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PRINCETON, N. J. 


PURCHASED BY THE 
MRS. ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY CHURCH HISTORY FUND. 


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THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/salemwitchtrialsOOgemm 


The 
SALEM WITCH TRIALS 


A Chapter of New England 
History 


BY / 


WILLIAM NELSON GEMMILL 





CHICAGO 


A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
1924 


Copyright 
A. C. McClurg & Co. 
1924 


Published December, 1924 


Printed in the United States of America 


INTRODUCTION 


I HAVE been moved to write this volume by rea- 
son of an ever increasing interest in our early 
American life. 

The story of Witchcraft throughout the world, 
would fill many volumes, yet some knowledge of it, 
in the years preceding the coming of our Pilgrim 
Fathers is necessary to understand a belief that was 
then, well-nigh universal. The casual student is 
inclined to charge the whole thing to religious big- 
otry, but a clearer study must convince any one that 
this delusion was only a step in the universal strug- 
gle of mankind, toward the light. The cruelties 
inflicted upon the witches, are not to be compared 
with those inflicted upon the early Christians who 
died for conscience’ sake. 

The story of the trials at Salem has never been 
more than partially told. Cotton Mather wrote 
the first book upon the subject. Instead of telling 
what happened, he laboriously attempted to justify 
everything that was done. 

Robert Calef, a contemporary, followed a few 
years later, with a volume which denied many 
things that Mather asserted, and charged the latter 
with most of the responsibility for the persecu- 
tions. 

Charles W. Upton has written the most com- 
plete work upon the subject. He has not, however, 


i 


ii The Salem Witch Trials 


attempted in any large measure, to publish the testi- 
mony of the witnesses at the trials. In his two 
volumes, he has set forth some of the evidence but 
the reader can gain no adequate knowledge of what 
transpired unless he has before him the evidence 
in a more connected form. 

In 1864 Mr. W. Elliot Woodward of Roxbury, 
Massachusetts, undertook to secure all the original 
documents relating to the witchcraft trials then in 
existence and on file in the courts of Essex County. 
It was his intention to publish these, together with 
his comments thereon. Nothing, however, was pub- 
lished except the documents themselves and these 
were never put into general circulation. ‘They con- 
tain many confessions, taken in prison, and many 
preliminary examinations certified by the examin- 
ing magistrates. They also contain some of the 
evidence heard at the final trials before a jury. 

These early documents are printed in the old 
English. Many words are misspelled, and many 
colloquialisms used. They are all written in the 
third person, and often contain the conclusions of 
the writer, rather than the language of the wit- 
nesses. 

Mr. Woodward did a great work in copying 
these records and thus preserving them for histori- 
cal reference. 

In preparing this work, I have quoted largely 
from these original records as copied by Wood- 
ward, but I have not always followed the words nor 


Introduction iii 


the forms of expression. I have put in the first 
person what was in the third person. I have elim- 
inated much of the bad spelling, which in many 
instances, obscures the meaning intended to be con- 
veyed. Nowhere else has there been preserved 
for us as accurate an account of the everyday life 
of these Puritan ancestors as in the testimony given 
by scores of witnesses in these trials. They are 
here seen just as they lived with their virtues and 
vices standing out in bold relief. 


WILLIAM NELSON GEMMILL. 





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CHAPTER 


CONTENTS 


The Invisible World . 

The Witches Sacrament 

The Devil in ae ; 

The Puritan : 

balcniaee 

The Beginning of Trouble 

The Trial of Bridget Bishop 

The Trial of the Reverend 
George Burroughs 


The ee, of Giles: Wind Wartha 


Cor 
The Trials Basa Geode ant 
Sarah’ Osborn) > -. 
The Trial of Elizabeth Howe i 
The Trial of Susanna Martin 
The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 
The Trial of Mary Easty 
The Trial of Martha Carrier 
Dhewbrial ot George Jacobs, sr: 
The Trial of John and Eliza- 
bechebroctona.: : 
The Trial of Ann Pudatae 
The Trial of John Willard . . 
The Trial of Samuel Wardwell 
The Trial of Sarah Wildes . 
The Trial of Wilmot Reed . 
The Trials of Mary and Alice 
Parker and Margaret Scott 
The Trial of Dorcas Hoar . 
Confessions . : : 
The End of the Road 
Ministers and Meenas 
Fixing the Blame 
Damages Awarded . 
Expense Accounts 


fe Pe 


os 





The Salem Witch Trials 


CHAPTER I 
THE INVISIBLE WORLD 


HORTLY after the trials of the witches at 
Salem, the King of England commanded Cot- 
ton Mather to report the matter to him. In obedi- 
ence, he wrote a book entitled The Wonders of the 
Invisible World. A few years later Robert Calef 
of Boston wrote another book, on the same sub- 
ject, and called it More Wonders of the Invisible 
World. Both treated of the strangest chapter in 
American History. 

A witch was one who sold herself to the Devil 
and in consideration received a familiar spirit, 
which gave her power to inflict evil at will upon 
man and beast. Having sworn to serve the Devil, 
she was a traitor to God and must be put to death. 

The church had long recognized the power of 
God to cast out devils from men, and that such 
power was given to His apostles and ministers. A 
body of men known as Exorcists had for centuries 
chastised the evil spirits in men. Cruel and often 
inhuman were the punishments inflicted upon those 
who were charged with being possessed of the 
Devil. The old ritual ran thus: 


I exorcise thee, thou unclean spirit, in the name 
of Jesus Christ, Tremble O! Satan! thou enemy of 
1 


2 The Salem Witch Trials 


the faith, thou foe of mankind who hast brought 
death into the world, who hast deprived men of 
life, and hath rebelled against justice, thou seducer 
of mankind, thou root of evil, thou source of ava- 
rice, discord and envy! 


The religious awakening of the Seventeenth 
century was like the shock of a nightmare. It was 
much easier to throw off their chains than it was to 
establish a new order out of the chaos. 

How to find God and follow him was now the 
burning purpose of the world. It is not strange 
that the mind was confused by the teachings, the 
practices and the worship of the old Gods. 

Everywhere there sprang up men and women 
who claimed belief in witchcraft had not only religi- 
ous sanction, but also regal and legal support. 
Macaulay said James I was the “Wisest fool in 
England.” He might have said he was the per- 
forming idiot of the Seventeenth century. His face 
was hideous, his form misshapen, and his mind dis- 
torted. From his father, Lord Darnley, he inher- 
ited the sullen brutality of a murderer. From his 
mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, came the vain cun- 
ning of a trickster, who, for his own pleasure, 
would sacrifice a kingdom. 

Witchcraft had never been a statutory offense 
in England until James made it such. Before it 
had been heresy, and the church alone punished 
it. 

When James came to the throne in 1603 he was 


The Invisible World 3 


twenty-three and a bachelor. Queen Elizabeth 
tried to find him a suitable wife, but he was sus- 
picious and ‘‘ would not be ruled by an old maid 
Queen.” She at last offered him the little fifteen 
year old Anne, Princess of Denmark. In order to 
make this match, she had her artists paint a por- 
trait of the Princess which greatly flattered her. 
At last James agreed to marry, sight unseen. But 
Anne was a Protestant and James’ mother had 
taught him to be a Catholic. He resolved, how- 
ever, to renounce the religion of his mother and 
follow that of the “Good Queen Bess.”’ The wed- 
ding was arranged. As the courtship had been by 
proxy, so the wedding should be, and James was 
married in England while his child-bride was in 
Denmark. Then he summoned the captains of his 
fleet and ordered them to sail away and bring back 
his queen, that she might adorn the palace of a 
King. When the boats were ready, a great storm 
fell upon the water, the high waves dashed upon 
the shore, the vessels were destroyed, and many 
of the King’s bravest men were at the bottom of 
the sea. A new fleet was equipped but before it 
reached Denmark one-half of it had been destroyed 
_ by the storm. 

The little bride, robed in all the splendor of a 
Queen, started on her journey to England and a 
palace. But wilder and fiercer rolled the billows 
over the decks of the vessels, and all were driven 
farther away from merry England and landed 


+ The Salem Witch Trials 


upon the storm-tossed coast of Norway, where the 
sailors mutinied and refused to venture further. 

Then the brave and gallant King said: ‘I will 
no longer be an irresolute asse led by the nose like 
a dumb creature, or a bairn that can do nothing 
for himself. I will defy all the devils that plot my 
destruction, and go after her and bring her to my 
palace.” So he sailed away to Copenhagen, found 
his bride, ‘‘ kissed her on the shoulder, stroked her 
yellow hair,” and stayed until the ice went out in 
the spring when he sailed for home, convinced that 
the Devil had plotted his destruction because he 
married a Protestant wife. He declared the storm, 
the mist, and the rolling sea were the Devil’s 
weapons. 

He wrote a book on Demonology wherein he 
outlined all the activities of the Devil, and laid 
down many rules whereby witches might be de- 
tected and punished. 

To demonstrate the efficacy of his rules he de- 
creed all kinds of inhuman torture to compel con- 
fessions, attending often in person and witnessing 
with glee the excruciating torment of the accused. 

He first required his victims to walk in their bare 
feet, until the feet were blistered and the accused 
fell unconscious from pain and exhaustion. ‘Then 
he required them to be stripped and their bodies 
shaven in order to find Devil marks. If by this 
time they had not confessed, he had their big toes 
and thumbs tied together and threw them into the 


The Invisible World 5 


water. If they sank, of course they were innocent. 
If they floated, they were witches and were burned 
at the stake. ‘Their bodies were often mutilated. 
An ear, a finger, or the tongue was cut off to compel 
a confession. 

In this way, many confessions were obtained. 
All the old hags in the community acknowledged 
themselves to be witches. Many declared, under 
torture, that they had made solemn covenants with 
the Devil, who had promised, in return for their 
loyalty, that they should be given power to wreak 
vengeance upon their enemies. They declared that 
they had been present at several large meetings 
presided over by the Devil in the form of a he- 
goat, wherein plots were laid for the overthrow 
of the King and his church. 

James said women were more especially sought 
by the Devil because, 

That sex is frailer than man is, and it is easier 
to entrap them in the snares of the Devil, as was 
proved to be true by the serpent deceiving Eve in 
the Garden. Many of them are lean and de- 
formed, shadowy and melancholic in their faces, 
to the horror of all who see them. They are 
scolds and devilish in their characters, and go about 
begging from house to house for a pot full of meal. 
They promise anything you want, and lie whenever 
it 1s convenient. 


To have communication with a witch was ground 
for suspicion. James said in his Demonology: 


Who sups with the Devil has need of a large 


6 The Salem Witch Trials 


spoon. Witches can raise a storm and tempest in 
the air, or upon sea or land. ‘They cannot weep 
in any event over three tears, if they do, they are 
crocodile tears. God decreed that the water should 
refuse to receive a witch into its bosom, so the ac- 
cused should be thrown into the water. If they are 
witches, they will float on the surface, but if they 
be innocent they will sink. 

He ordered that witches being tortured should 
be watched closely to prevent anyone spitting in 
their eyes to make artificial tears and thus deceive 
the finders. 

The established courts of England were not suf- 
ficient to try all the accused. The King appointed 
many Royal Commissioners to go about hunting 
and trying witches. They were known as “ Witch 
finders.”” ‘Their business was to compel confessions 
and bring to trial, and the stake, those who were 
accused, 

The most notorious of these was Matthew Hop- 
kins, who, for a consideration, would “cry out”’ 
against any citizen and use all effort henceforth to 
bring him to the stake. After burning hundreds 
of innocent victims, he was accused of being a witch 
and burned. 

James, a Protestant, carried on his witchcraft 
persecutions in the name of the church. For over 
one hundred years prior to his accession to the 
throne, France, Spain, and Germany rang with the 
cries of the tortured witches. Both Catholics and 
Protestants joined in the cruel torture and death. 


The Invisible World 7 


In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull com- 
manding a vigilant search for witches, and every- 
where the witch-fires were kindled in the name of 
religion. 

England was the last of the European powers to 
succumb to the delusion and the first to awaken to 
the horror of it. Before this awakening came, she 
had burned over 20,000, while 30,000 were burned 
in France, 25,000 in Spain, and 75,000 in the dif- 
ferent states of Germany. 

The Earl of Bothwell was the leader of the 
Catholic party in England. He had long been a 
skillful necromancer and was supposed to have 
communication with the Devil. He engaged in 
several plots against the King. This, no doubt, 
had much to do with James’ belief in the deter- 
mination of the Evil Spirits to destroy his King- 
dom. 

The delusion was not confined to the poor and 
ignorant, but pervaded all classes of society. The 
most distinguished judges like Sir Matthew Hale 
and Sir Francis North had no doubt about the ex- 
istence of witches. Both presided at witchcraft 
trials and accepted without question the evidence 
of ghosts. Both signed the death warrants which 
lit the fagots about the quivering flesh of innocent 
men and women. 

Among the clergy were such eminent divines as 
Richard Baxter and John Wesley, who believed 
firmly in the power of the Devil to send his Evil 


8 The Salem Witch Trials 


Spirits into human beings and thus make them sub- 
ject to his dominion. 

It was the statute of James I under which the 
witches of Salem were tried and condemned by our 
Puritan ancestors. And all the rules and prece- 
dents followed in these trials were established dur- 
ing the reign of the Stuarts, and were set forth in 
bound books, copied in large part from King 
James’ work on Demonology. 

The horrors of the Inquisition were never 
equaled in England, but many of the inhuman 
practices of that reign of terror in Europe were 
adopted by the witch finders under James, who 
traveled about through England and Scotland 
and, for a small stipend, brought to the stake 
anyone whom rivalry, jealousy, and hate might 
accuse. 

The penalty for convicted witches in Europe had 
always been “‘death by burning,” but for some 
unaccountable reason, no witches were ever burned 
in America. Those who suffered death were al- 
ways hung upon the gallows. Many, however, who 
were convicted at Salem were confined in prison, 
the time of their sentence being at the will of the 
magistrates. 

A negro named Manuel was convicted of witch- 
craft at the old court house in Cahokia, Illinois, in 
1790, and sentenced to be burned to death. This 
was during the period of the French settlement. In- 
stead of obeying orders, the Sheriff, Richard Win- 


The Invisible World 9 


ston, hung him. ‘The order of the court to the 
Sheriff is as follows: 


‘You are ordered to take the negro slave, Man- 
uel, condemned for witchcraft, and after having 
made honorable prayer at the church, you will chain 
him to a post, at the water’s side, and then burn 
him alive and scatter his ashes.”’ 


At least two others, were convicted of witch- 
craft in this same court house, which now stands 
in Jackson Park, Chicago. A slave by the name 
of Ennbrill and Jennette Cudney an old woman. 


CHAPTER Iti 


THE WITCHES SACRAMENT 
4 ‘HE most remarkable thing connected with the 


witchcraft delusion was the witches sacrament. 

As the persecutions under James increased, 
many confessed they were witches and said they 
had frequently attended witch meetings, where 
the witches sacrament was celebrated. Some of 
these confessions have been preserved. ‘The most 
complete are those of Geillis Duncan, a beautiful 
Scotch girl, who was condemned and executed be- 
cause of her skill in curing diseases. 

Doctor Fian, a school master, who was a spirit 
medium and Agnes Samson known as the ‘“‘ Elder 
Witch”’ testified under cruel torture that about the 
time James was to be married, the Devil sum- 
moned the witches and wizards one night to the old 
North Berwick Kirk in Scotland, there to plan how 
the marriage could be prevented. 

The meeting was on October thirty-first, All 
Halloween night. The Devil and over two hun- 
dred witches gathered about the little kirk, which 
stood far up on the rocky coast, overlooking the 
sea. 

It was a wild and stormy night, but this only 
increased the fiendish pleasure of the worshippers. 
Some came by sea, riding in sieves, others flew 
through the air on broom sticks, some rode on 

10 


The Witches Sacrament 11 


goats, some on swine, some on dogs and some on 
black cats. Time and distance were annihilated. 

The Devil was there in the form of a he-goat. 
His nose was like an eagle’s beak, his body hard 
as iron, his eyes like fire-balls, his voice like the 
east wind, his hands and legs were covered with 
long hair, scorpion thongs were fastened to his 
belt. In one hand he held a black image for the 
witches to kiss, in the other he held a flaming torch. 
When the witches arrived the kirk was dark, but 
each witch carried in her hand a candle which 
burned with a blue flame. All saluted the Devil, 
who stood in front of the kirk, then they circled 
’round and ’round, in a wild sensuous dance, led 
by Geillis Duncan, who played a reel upon a jews- 
harp. All were naked and danced back to back. 
Sometimes the Devil played on a bag-pipe and 
sometimes on a flute. If the dancers lagged, he 
lashed their bare bodies with his scorpion whips, 
and the burning feet of the dancers moved so 
swiftly about the kirk that the grass was withered, 
and until this day nothing will grow thereon. 

When the dance had finished, Doctor Fian blew 
his fiery breath into the keyhole and the kirk be- 
came a blaze of light. All entered through cracks 
in the door and beheld the Devil sitting in the pul- 
pit, in the form of a he-goat, and clothed in a black 
gown and hat. 

When all were inside, the roll was called and each 
wizard and witch arose and told what he or she 


12 The Salem Witch Trials 


had done since they last met. Some had killed 
the neighbor’s cattle, or sheep, or swine. Others 
had inflicted death, or rheumatism, or gout. Some 
destroyed crops, withered trees and fruit. Some 
had driven needles through the brains of little 
children. The greater the misery inflicted the hap- 
pier was Satan, who alternately smiled and frowned 
as he listened to the reports. One old witch re- 
ported that she had done nothing since last they 
met. Then the Devil leaped upon her and beat 
her until blood flowed to the floor. 

When the roll was finished, new members were 
received. A solemn oath was administered by the 
Devil, wherein each one swore to deny God, to 
curse, blaspheme, and provoke Him and His dis- 
ciples, to worship Satan and do his commandments, 
to lay waste the fruits of the earth, to send disease 
and death into cattle, swine, and horses, to blight 
corn, and the harvest, to engender hate, stir up 
wrath, and do evil everywhere, to avenge the Devil 
against all his enemies, by afflicting them with 
pain, loathsome disease and famine, to make deso- 
late the fields and the heart of man, to ravish the 
graves of the dead, and haunt the homes of the 
living. 

When this ceremony ended, all kissed the Devil 
on his back, and received a mark in the flesh burned 
by a red-hot iron. 

At last came the banquet, and a merry feast it 
was. Unbaptized children were served. They had 


The Witches Sacrament 13 


been boiled in a red hot caldron until the flesh 
became ointment. Some of the bodies had been 
taken from new made graves. Some had recently 
been strangled. Some were still-born. While the 
kettle boiled, all danced ’round and ’round it. 

Into the steaming kettle were thrown noses, fin- 
gers, and toes that had been gathered from rifled 
graves, and the entrails of children and every foul 
and venomous beast and serpent. The meal was 
served without salt and flavor, and all who ate were 
as hungry as before. 

Then the Devil spoke. He exhorted to all evil 
deeds. 


‘Revenge yourself or you shall die! Lay waste 
the fruits of the earth! Summon wind and rain 
and hurricane to destroy the crops! Poison the 
cattle, murder the children, and rifle the graves of 
the dead! ‘Thus only shall you live!”’ 


Then he stamped his hoofs upon the floor and 
all was dark. Thechurch was empty. The witches 
had vanished as they had come. 

The testimony is strangely reminiscent of the 
Witches scene in Macbeth so vividly described by 
Shakespeare. The dramatist doubtless voiced the 
belief of his day. 


Round about the cauldron go, 

In the poisoned entrails throw. 
Toad that under cold stone 

Days and nights has thirty-one 
Sweltered venom sleeping got, 
Boil thou first in the charmed pot. 


14 The Salem Witch Trials 


Fillet of a fenny snake 

In the cauldron boil and bake, 

Eye of newt and toe of frog 

Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 
Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting, 
Lizzard’s leg and owlet’s wing. 


For a charm of powerful trouble 
Like a hell broth boil and bubble 
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 
Witches’ mummy, maw of Gulf, 
Livers of blaspheming Jew. 

Gall of goat, and slips of yew 
Silvered in the moon’s eclipse, 
Nose of Turk and ‘Tartar’s lips, 
Fingers of both strangled babe 
Ditch delivered by a drab, 

Make the gruel thick and slab, 
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, 
Cool it with a baboon’s blood, 
Then the charm is firm and good. 


Eating the ointment and drinking the blood of 
their murdered victims was supposed to give the 
witches mastery over the elements, and power to 
inflict all manner of evil upon others. 

The story of the trial of the witches at Salem 
would not be complete or understood without some 
knowledge of the historic *‘ Witches Sacrament.” 
Throughout nearly all of the trials in Massachus- 
etts constant reference was made to the great witch 
sacrament that was held on April 20, 1692, in the 
pasture of the Reverend Samuel Parris, near the 
town of Salem. 

Several witches confessed that they attended this 


The Witches Sacrament 15 


meeting and described what happened. Here it 
was they signed the Devil’s book and surrendered 
themselves soul and body to his dominion. Among 
those who participated actively in this meeting, ac- 
cording to the testimony of many witches, were the 
Reverend George Burrows, who was the Devil’s 
arch wizard; Martha Carrier, known as ‘‘ Queen 
of the Witches;” Abigail and Deliverance Hobbs. 

The first two were hung, and the last two lin- 
gered in prison until the delusion was over. 

It was commonly believed at that time that on 
October 31st of each year all the fairies, ghosts 
and witches came forth from their hiding places 
to dance in the forests with demons, goblins and 
evil spirits; there to plot and plan for another 
year. Our modern Halloween is largely based 
upon this belief, and instead of ghosts, fairies, 
demons and goblins coming forth to dance in the 
moonlight, the night of October 31st is now 
the occasion when lovers of mischief sally forth 
to steal gates from their hinges, upset wagons, 
rattle tin cans and commit all manner of depre- 
dations to the joy of youth and the discomfiture 
of all others. Well did the old Scotch ditty 
run—‘ That night a child might understand the 
Devil had business in his hand.” 

Edward Lear said of the witches of North 


Berwick: 


They went to sea in a sieve they did, 
In a sieve they went to sea. 


16 The Salem Witch Trials 


In almost every trial at Salem witnesses testified 
that the accused, in some devilish form, appeared 
to them and wanted them to write in the Devil’s 
book, and in every case an extra jury was impaneled 
to search the bodies of the prisoners to find the 
Devil marks, which it was believed Satan inflicted 
with his red-hot iron. 


CHAPTER THI 
THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE 


(yes ancestors did not believe in an imaginary 
Devil. ‘Theirs was a real, live Devil. Some- 
times he was a ravenous beast, sometimes a serpent. 
Sometimes he had the face of a man and the cloven 
hoofs, horns, and tail of an animal. His greatest 
accomplishment was to transmit his evil spirit to 
others. Sometimes he sent his spirit into men and 
women and children, sometimes into animals, some- 
times into inanimate objects. 

In choosing his followers, he always selected the 
weaker because they had less power of resistance. 
It was thought that God was more powerful than 
the Devil, but less cunning. For that reason the 
Devil evaded the strong-willed and resolute, and 
sought converts among the old women, the feeble- 
minded, and the children. 

Nearly all the early witches were women, most 
of them old, feeble, childish, and often insane. 
More than three-fourths of those burned in Europe 
were women. The Devil sent his evil spirit into 
them and gave them power to transmit that spirit 
to others and to animals. In selecting the animals, 
those were chosen that were the most despised. 
Snakes, toads, rats, leeches, worms, caterpillars, 
grasshoppers, black cats, swine, he-goats, and some- 


times dogs and cattle. These were chosen to bring 
17 


18 The Salem Witch Trials 


disease, famine, desolation, and death to the 
world. 

Thus came about the belief that anything that 
had the power to inflict injury was possessed of an 
evil spirit, whether it was a living or an inanimate 
object. Justification for this belief was found in 
David’s maledictions upon the mountains of Gil- 
boa, that had neither rain nor dew; in God’s curse 
upon the city of Jericho making its walls to fall 
down before blasts and trumpets; in the withered 
fig tree of Bethany; and in the condemnation of 
the serpent in the Garden of Eden so that it crawls 
forever upon its belly. 

‘Tf an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, 
then the ox shall be surely stoned and his flesh shall 
not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit.” 
Thus runs the law of Moses. 

The church in the fourteenth, fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries had one all absorbing purpose, 
and that was to overcome the Devil. No matter 
how difficult the task, it must be accomplished. 
To penetrate his disguises, to find him and offer 
him battle, was a task worthy a young church, just 
emerging from a long night of idolatry, ignorance 
and superstition. It did not debate long the means 
to be used. The only way to conquer the evil 
spirit was to destroy the body which harbored it. 

Some animals are the personification of evil. 
They seem to have no good purpose in life. Fam- 
ine, pestilence, and death follow them everywhere. 


The Devil in Disguise 19 


Locusts, lice, grasshoppers, and leeches, snakes, 
rats, toads, and lizards all seem to have upon them 
the shadow of the devil. Their mission is to des- 
troy. It is not strange that the church attacked 
these evil forces and established tribunals to try 
them. 

Mephistopheles was “* The Lord of rats and eke 
of mice, of flies and frogs, bed-bugs and lice.”’ 

Only the Ecclesiastical courts could try wild ani- 
mals. Domestic animals were tried by the civil 
courts. 

It is a familiar story that Saint Patrick drove the 
snakes out of Ireland, but how he did it is not as 
familiar. Tradition has it that Ireland was once 
so infested with poisonous snakes and other rep- 
tiles, that no human being dared venture to the 
interior. Saint Patrick, who was then a young 
missionary in France, was ambitious to conquer 
the devil in Ireland. At his request he was sent 
there as a missionary. On landing, he was greeted 
by a cloud of bats that completely darkened the sky. 
He pronounced an exorcism against them and beat 
upon cymbals and drums, but the bats refused to 
depart. 

He next tried the snakes. A decree was issued 
commanding all the snakes in the island to appear 
before his altar on a certain day. When the day 
arrived, the snakes did not appear, but they were 
condemned and excommunicated. It is related by 
Colgan that Saint Patrick beat his drum so hard 


20 The Salem Witch Trials 


to drive the snakes away that he knocked a hole in 
the top of it, thereby endangering the success of his 
miracle. Just then an angel appeared, patched 
the drum, and for four centuries afterwards this 
drum was preserved as a holy relic in Dublin. 

Tradition has it that the snakes took fright and 
disappeared. Colgan relates that one large ser- 
pent remained behind and Saint Patrick made a box 
and invited the old fellow to crawl in. The snake 
replied that the box was too small. - 

‘Get in and try it,”’ said Saint Patrick. Where- 
upon the unsuspecting reptile entered the box; the 
new missionary to the Emerald Isle closed the lid, 
and rolled the box into the sea. That was the last 
snake in Ireland. 

Ribadeneira, a Jesuit author, says that Ireland 
became so free from ravenous beasts and poison- 
ous reptiles that even the wood of the forest had 
virtue against evil spirits, and it is said to this day 
not even a spider will come near King’s College in 
Cambridge, because it is built of Irish wood. 

There is a record of over one hundred trials of 
animals during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
They are interesting only as illustrating the belief 
of the people of that time in the power of the devil 
to inflict upon the world his evil purposes through 
the instrumentality of dumb creatures. It illus- 
trates also how far a militant church may go in 
search of the Devil that it may overcome him and 
build up the Kingdom of God. There were many 


The Devil in Disguise 21 


animal trials in the Prylaneum at Rome in the olden 
days. The dogs that guarded the gates of the city 
from the northern invaders were tried once a year, 
because they did not bark when the enemy ap- 
proached, and a holiday was proclaimed each year 
in honor of the geese that cackled when the bar- 
barians entered the city. 

Because dogs waited at the gates of death in 
Greece their bark on a dark night is still a symbol 
of death. 

The Catholics tried and condemned the Protes- 
tant church at La Rochelle in 1685. The church 
was ordered demolished and burned. The bell, 
because it had summoned heretics to worship, was 
whipped, then buried fora year. After that it was 
disinterred, baptized, and hung in the new cathe- 
dral. 

Our early fathers gave souls to trees and plants, 
to animals, to the sea, the sun, the mountain, the 
lightning, and the storm—anything that had 
power to inflict pain or death. 

Even as late as 1887 a tree was tried in Mary- 
land. ‘The record shows it blew down upon John 
Bryant and “broke his blound bulke.”” The court 
decided the owner of the tree should forfeit it to 
the family of the deceased. 

Roosters and black cats were always closely re- 
lated to the devil. Every now and then a rooster 
was said to have laid an enormous egg and every- 
body got excited. A rooster’s egg was more valu- 


27 The Salem Witch Trials 


able to a magician than the philosopher’s stone. It 
was thought the devil employed witches to hatch 
them. They were supposed to contain mystic com- 
pounds and hatched out winged serpents which had 
power to destroy all other animals. 

A rooster was tried at Basle in 1474. It had 
laid an egg. The lawyer for the defense refused 
to plead for his client, saying the size of the egg 
was indisputable evidence of the rooster’s guilt. 
Both the cock and the egg were burned at the stake 
amid great rejoicing. 

Before trying an animal at least three summons 
had to be issued against it. If it did not then ap- 
pear the trial proceeded, and it was exorcised and 
excommunicated. It is remarkable how effective 
these judgments were (according to some histor- 
ians). It was not thought necessary to have the 
defendants in court. Murderers were often tried 
in their absence. 

In 1451 a trial of the leeches was held in Lais- 
anne. When they did not appear, all were found 
cuilty, excoriated, and ordered to depart from 
the land in three days. It is recorded that 
they refused and were destroyed by a pest- 
ilence. 

Caterpillars have frequently been tried. No- 
body ever liked caterpillars. The Bishop of Laon 
tried them in his diocese in 1120. They were con- 
victed and, we are told, at once departed beyond 
the borders. 


The Devil in Disguise De 


In order to invoke the aid of the church in rid- 
ding the country of pests, it was necessary that all 
tithes be paid. This fact often stayed the execu- 
tion of tormentors. It also greatly aided the 
church coffers. 

Rats and mice have always been looked upon as 
the devil’s avengers. ‘There are many stories of 
their ravages in Germany. 

Archbishop Hatto of Metz was devoured by 
mice in his tower at ‘Bingen on the Rhine” 
because, when there was a great famine, he drove 
all the poor in a barn and burnt it. 

It is also related that Bishop Widerolf of Straus- 
burg was eaten by mice in 997, because of his edict 
against them. Bishop Adolf and Bishop Gut- 
tengen of Cologne were devoured by mice in their 
castle on the Rhine, because they had bought up all 
the corn in a period of famine. 

The most interesting rat trial in history is one 
which occurred at Auten, France, in 1531. The 
record reads like many trials today. ‘The rats were 
so numerous that they threatened to devour every 
living thing. Whereupon, the Bishop summoned 
them before the bar of justice to answer to the 
charge of being in league with the Devil. 

The court appointed Barthelemy de Chassenenz, 
the greatest criminal lawyer of his day, to defend 
them. Summons to all was properly posted. When 
the day arrived for the trial, the defendants did 
not appear. Their counsel, pursuing the tactics of 


24 The Salem Witch Trials 


truly great criminal lawyers, pleaded for delay. He 
said: 

‘“ My clients are very numerous. Some are old 
and feeble, some sick, some lame. The roads 
are bad and the weather inclement. Some are 
young and cannot travel far. ‘The way is long and 
hard. I pray this honorable court to grant further 
time.” 

The court was moved with compassion and 
granted three weeks delay. At the end of the time 
allowed only the learned lawyer appeared. He 
made another plea for delay. He said: 


‘“ My clients would be obedient to the commands 
of this Worshipful Court, but they dare not ap- 
proach, because all the roads and lanes leading 
hither are thronged with cats, which are the dead- 
liest of my clients’ enemies. Unless your Wor- 
shipful shall make safe the way, so that the de- 
fendants may come without fear and trembling, 
justice will be a by-word in the land, and whole 
families, the innocent with the guilty, will be en- 
gulfed in a common ruin.” 


Whereupon, the court ordered that all the 
owners of cats in the diocese give bond within three 
days that their cats would not eat the rats while 
on their way to and from the court. In default 
whereof the rats should be discharged. It is need- 
less to add that Chassenenz won his case. 

In 1456 a sow and six young pigs were tried at 
Laveguy, France, on the charge of murder. It was 


claimed that they killed and ate a child. The law- 


The Devil in Disguise 25 


yer for the defense refused to plead for the sow, 
but eloquently defended the pigs on the ground that 
they were too young to understand the meaning of 
their act and were tempted by an evil mother. The 
pigs were acquitted, but the sow was publicly exe- 
cuted in the market place. 

In 1314 at Moisey a bull was tried on the charge 
of goring a man to death. He was convicted, 
strangled, and hung by the hindlegs. 

Animals were often condemned to be burned 
alive. Sometimes they were sentenced to be slightly 
singed and then strangled and burned. 

In 1684 vast flocks of pigeons devastated the 
grain fields of French Canada. They were cited 
by the court to appear, tried, condemned and ban- 
ished. A few days later they all left on their an- 
nual flight to the South. 

At least two dogs were hung as witches in Salem 
in 1692. Robert Calef says concerning them: 


‘“A dog being afflicted at Salem village, those that 
had the spectral sight being sent for they all ac- 
cused John Bradstreet, brother of the justice, that 
he afflicted the dog and now rode upon his back. 

‘The said Bradstreet being arrested made his 
escape into the Pissatuqua Government, and the 
dog was tried and put to death and this was all the 
afflicted that suffered death.” 


Again he says: 


“At Andover the afflicted complained of a dog 
as afflicting them and they all would fall into fits 


26 The Salem Witch Trials 


at the dog looking upon them. Whereupon, the 
said dog was tried and hung for a witch.” 

While these dog trials are not described, no 
doubt the usual procedure in such cases was fol- 
lowed. The dog, with a strap or halter about his 
neck, was led by a bailiff before the bar of the 
court. Another bailiff followed with a goad or 
prong to prod the culprit when necessity required. 

If found guilty, summary execution followed, 
the animal always being hung head downward. 

Many witnesses in the Salem trials saw the devil 
in the form of a black cat. It was always crossing 
somebody’s path on a dark night. The next day 
that somebody had the gout or the stomach ache. 
There is no record of the trial of the cats. Much 
of the evidence has to do with the witches that were 
abroad in the night in almost every animal disguise, 
carrying death to the hogs, drying up the milk of 
the cows, and giving distemper to the horses. To 
penetrate these disguises and detect the witches, 
the boys of the village often greased the soles of 
their shoes with lard. 


CHAPTER IV 
THE PURITAN 


O ONE can understand the events at Salem 
unless he is acquainted with the Puritan. 

His character is so striking, and his achieve- 
ments so wonderful, that every child in America 
ought to know more about him. He is the one man 
who did not come to the new world for trade, or 
worldly advantage. He came that he might wor- 
ship God in his own way. He did not start the 
Reformation in the old world, but he would not let 
it stop. He rebelled just as much against the 
stately pomp of the Church of England as he did 
against the Catholic Church. His was a religion 
of the heart. He was a non-conformist in every 
sense of the word. Whatever was, he thought was 
wrong and ought to be changed, and he was willing 
to become a heretic, or even a traitor to change it. 
His conscience was his guide and it rendered stern 
judgments. To him, the church was without a 
living soul, and his life work was to breathe into 
it fire from Heaven that it might regenerate the 
world. The only way to do this was to overthrow 
the existing order. 

Instead of pride there must be humility. In- 
stead of outward splendor there must be simplicity. 
Instead of his religion being dictated by Popes and 
Prelates it must be dictated by the heart and con- 
science. 

27 


28 The Salem Witch Trials 


It was the noblest revolution in the history of 
mankind. Knighthood in the new world meant 
devotion to principle, not to kings. Chivalry which 
concealed the debauchery of an age gave place 
to courage which enthroned conscience as the 
moral guide for all men. It was this conception 
of the new knighthood which led to the Declara- 
tion of Independence and the establishment of a 
government “of the people, for the people and 
by the people.” 

It would be idle to say that the Puritan did not 
make many mistakes. An untrained conscience al- 
ways makes mistakes. A man must be judged by 
his purpose and his accomplishments, not by the 
methods he used. 

To overcome pride, the Puritan carried self- 
denial to the extreme. His clothes were as un- 
adorned as it was possible to make them. His 
speech was slow and solemn. His look was som- 
ber. He even changed his name that he might 
always be reminded of his debt to God whom he 
worshiped. 

The following is a jury list filed in 1688, now 
in the Museum in London: Stand-Fast Stringer of 
Crowhurst, Kill-Sin Pimple of Whitham, Be-Faith- 
ful Joine of Britling, Fly-Debate Roberts of Brit- 
ling, Fight-the-good-fight-of-Faith White of El- 
mer, Weep-Not Billings of Lewes, Meek-Brewer 
of Okehan, Safety-in-Heaven Snat of Okefield, 
Search-the-Scriptures Martin of Sollhurst, Fight- 


The Puritan 29 


the-Devil Richardson of Southton, Shall-Hope 
Briggs of Rye, The-Peace-of-God Knight of Bur- 
wash, Seek-Wisdom of Worden, Much-Mercy- 
Crier of Worden, Peaceful Harding of Leevas, 
Gift-Weeks of Culkfield, Increase Weeks of Cruck- 
field, Faint-not Hurst of Heathfield, Be-thankful 
Maynan of Britling, Be-Courteous Call of Peren- 
sey. 

If anything would crucify the flesh it would seem 
as though to be saluted daily as “ Kill-Sin Pimple” 
or “ Safety-in-Heaven Snat”’ would do the busi- 
ness. These were crowns of thorns which they 
wore that the spirit might triumph over the 
flesh. 

Instead of cathedrals in which to worship, their 
churches were plain and unadorned. Instead of 
bishops and priests, with braided robes, every man 
was a preacher and each congregation chose its 
own minister. He was chosen because of his piety, 
not because of his rank. They married and buried 
their dead without a minister. Their chief con- 
cern was for the living and not for the dead. Their 
graveyards were located in the most barren and 
cheerless spots, and they resigned their bodies to 
the tomb with a faith and courage never equaled. 

Whittier says of them: 


Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, 
Our hills are maple crowned, 

But not from them our fathers chose 
The village burying ground. 


30 The Salem Witch Trials 


The dreariest spot in all the land 
To death they set apart, 

With scanty grace from nature’s hand, 
And none from that of art. 


An age may often be judged by what it writes 
on its tomb stones. The following epitaphs show 
that the Puritan was no less heroic in death than 
in life. 


Pass on my friends dry up your tears, 
I must lie here till Christ appears, 
Death is a debt to nature due, 

I’ve paid the debt, and so must you. 


The Great I Am his summons sends 
And calls us to the grave. 

And like Himself thunders aloud 
And calls us to the skies. 


As you are, so were we 
As we are, you shall be. 


The fairest rose must fade and fall 
Death loves a shining mark 


When I am buried in the dust, 
My withering limbs with Christ I trust. 


The Puritan 31 


It has often been said these religious enthusiasts 
were stern and exacting and cruel, but they led the 
world in kindness and gentleness and mercy. 

At that time, in the land whence they came, two 
hundred and twenty-three offenses were punished 
by death. They reduced the number in America 
to fourteen. It was a cruel age. Some persons 
were condemned to be boiled to death in oil by 
slow degrees. The criminal was suspended over 
a boiling cauldron and gradually lowered into it, 
cooking his feet first. Others were buried alive, 
and a small tube put in their mouths extending out- 
side to prolong their torture. 

The blue laws of Connecticut were the most 
merciful laws any age has known. They abolished 
all such horrible cruelties and sought to regulate the 
moral life of the community upon high standards. 

One has only to read a guide book of the seven- 
teenth century in England to know how common 
was death upon the gallows. Thus it reads: 


Pass the gallows and three windmills into York, 
a small ascent, then pass the gallows to Corkehill. 
Pass through Hare Street with gallows on the left, 
up a small hill with gibbet on the right. At end 
of road cross brook and pass by gallows, at 2.3 
leave acute way to gallows where malefactors of 
Southworth are executed; at 8.5 you pass a gallows 
on the left, leave Petersborough and pass gallows 
on right, then over a stone road past gibbet on left, 
ascend a hill and pass by a gallows, then up a steep 
hill past gallows on the left. 


32 The Salem Witch Trials 


The Puritan insisted above all else on a decent 
respect for the moral laws. They chose their own 
magistrates and ministers and empowered them to 
inflict summary punishments. 

Roger Williams was banished from Salem be- 
cause he would not obey the magistrates who de- 
clared that every man must attend public worship. 
He said obedience was a matter of individual con- 
science. History records him as a martyr, yet 
the Puritans were right. Their government was 
founded in law, and obedience to the will of the 
majority as expressed through their church coun- 
cils. 

They banished Anne Hutchinson and the 
Quakers because they would not obey the law. 
They were intolerant, of course, but it was the 
intolerance of the majority speaking through con- 
stituted authority. They cut off the ears of 
Christopher Holder and John Copeland, Quaker 
preachers, but they did not do it until after these 
men had stirred up much dissension and had many 
times been warned by the magistrates to leave. 
They hung Mary Dyar, but before doing so gave 
her a chance to leave Boston. 

A page from a Massachusetts Court Docket 
in 1656 illustrates the activity of their magis- 
trates; 


James Standish fined for being vehemently sus- 
pected of being drunk. 
Henry Walton fined for saying he had as leave 


The Puritan 33 


to hear a dog bark as to hear Reverend Cobbell 
preach. 

John Studly fined for stealing his master’s ox 
and selling it to him. 

Thomas Gray of Marblehead to be whipped for 
being overseen in drink. 

John Russell whipped for beating his wife. 

Hares Crumwell fined for not living with his 
wife 

William Claus whipped for spying into the 
chamber of his master and reporting what he saw. 

Mrs. Griffin fined for swearing. 

Robert Edwards fined for excess in apparel in 
wearing sleeve lace and gold buttons. 

Sarah Perrige fined for wearing a silk hood. 

Matthew Coe fined for hunting raccoons on the 
Lord’s day, during public service. 

Sarah Collins fined for railing at her husband 
and calling him a “ pot gutted divell.”’ 

Robert Pike fined for living here and his wife 
in England. Ordered to go to her. 

Charles Phillips fined for drunkenness three 
times in two days. 

Joseph Armitage for resisting the constable, to 
sit in the stocks for one hour. 


Thus did the magistrates regulate the everyday 
life of the community. These judgments would 
be sustained by a majority opinion in America 
today. 

They were very ignorant. Few could read or 
write. There were no free schools, no lawyers, nor 
doctors worthy of the name. The ministers and 
the magistrates were the fountain heads of wisdom. 


34 The Salem Witch Trials 


An almanac of that day prints the common cures 
for all ailments. 


A metson to make a man’s hare groe when he is 
bald. Take some fier flies and sum Red worms and 
black snayles, and some hune bees, and dri them 
and then pound them to powder and mixt them in 
milk or water and rub them on where the hare 
ought to bee. 

To cure soar eyes—catch a live frog and lick 
its eyes with your tongue. 

To cure toothache — spit in a frog’s mouth. 

To cure hooping coff—take a hare from the 
head of a child and put it between two slices of 
pee then feed it to the dog, The dog will git the 
coff, 

To cure ague—take a cake of barley meal and 
mix it with children’s water, bake it, and feed it 
to the dog. If the dog shakes you will be cured. 

To cure stomake ache — inhale the cold breath 
of a duck. 

To cure gout—wrap in a deer skin the right 
foot of a frog. 


Theirs was the simple life. But it was a stage 
in our development that was necessary. It checked 
the pride and extravagance of the age and turned 
the attention of the world to character building as 
the only safe foundation for both church and state. 


CHAPTER V 
SALEM 
12 WOULD be difficult to draw a picture of 


Salem as it was in 1692. It was a village then 
of 1700 souls. Set down amid rough-hewn rocks 
and swamps and surrounded by forests inhabited by 
savage Indians and still more savage beasts, yet it 
was, to many, the Tabernacle of the Most High 
God and His “‘ dwelling place in Zion.” 

Like any other town, it had a “ Main Street,” 
(now Essex) and of course this street ran by the 
church, for the church was the beginning and the 
ending of all things in Salem. All other “ways” 
led to Main Street. Some of them were only eight 
feet wide. The wise men of the village said they 
must be wide enough for ‘‘foot and horse and 
cart.’ Boston was fifteen miles away, but it was 
a four days’ journey by foot — one day by pine log 
canoe, or astride old Dobbin. 
~ Each landowner was allotted an acre of ground, 
but he could not sell it; it was his home only as 
long as he dwelt there. He also had a common 
interest in the common woods, and meadows, and 
pastures. He generally owned a horse, a cow, a 
goat, and a pig; and if fortune smiled graciously, he 
might increase his worldly goods. Social distinc- 
tions were determined largely by the number of 
animals one possessed. 

35 


36 The Salem Witch Trials 


When the morning dawned the bugle sounded 
and all the inhabitants awoke; when the sun was 
an hour high the cowherds, the goatherds, and the 
swineherds blew their horns, and all those who had 
stock pens let down the bars, so that their cows 
and goats and pigs might join the several proces- 
sions, led by the buglers and followed by the shep- 
herd dogs, to the great pastures that were located 
in the common at the end of the town. 

The cows and goats and pigs were kept in sepa- 
rate pastures and each owner had to pay for the 
pasturage. Each cow wore a bell that resounded 
through the forest. Sometimes a cross was 
scratched upon the bell, and sometimes a piece of 
red flannel was tied about the neck of the cow to 
keep away the evil spirits that haunted the forests 
and fields and pastures. 

There were no public schools, but several pri- 
vate schools were open where reading, writing, and 
ciphering were taught. Less than half the popu- 
lation could read or write. 

Notwithstanding the moral standards of the 
church were high, yet there were many infractions 
of the law. At least ten per cent of the whole 
population were arrested annually. This will be 
better understood when it is known that only about 
one and one-half per cent of the population of the 
United States are now arrested annually. Several 
murders were committed in Salem prior to 1692 
and several persons were hung; many were con- 


Salem 37 


victed of theft and burglary. Some of the punish- 
ments inflicted were severe and revolting, but on 
the whole they were mild, and it would be hard to 
say they were not well suited to the offense. A few 
cases taken from the records will illustrate. 

Thomas Gray ran a disorderly house. The 
Court ordered his house pulled down. Dorothy 
Talbot beat her husband. She was ordered to be 
chained to a post and whipped. 

Mary Oliver was arrested for slandering the 
church. She said if the Apostle Paul came to 
Salem he would call all the inhabitants saints. She 
was ordered to be whipped. Governor Winthrop 
says: ‘She stood without tying and bore her pun- 
ishment with a masculine spirit.” 

Samuel Samples was convicted of burglary. He 
was branded on both cheeks with the letter ‘““B”’ 
and confined in prison for life with a log chained 
to his leg. 

Many were ordered to sit in the stocks for an 
hour; others to perch upon the high stool on 
the Lord’s day. _ Some had their ears cut off; 
some tongues were cleft. Many were whipped 
and branded with the first letter of the crime 
of which they were convicted. ‘Thus was dis- 
cipline maintained during the most trying period 
in the life of these brave adventurers in a strange 
land. 

There were so many things to distract the minds 
of the inhabitants just prior to the Witchcraft Trial 


38 The Salem Witch Trials 


that it is not strange that the people indulged in 
many excesses. he wolves had greatly increased 
in number and one-third of all the domestic animals 
possessed by the inhabitants were annually des- 
troyed by these beasts. The squirrels multiplied 
to such an extent that they devoured most of the 
corn and other crops. To catch them, hundreds of 
cats were imported. ‘These soon became so nu- 
merous that they were a greater pest than the squir- 
rels had been. Then began a war of extermination. 
Cats were slaughtered everywhere, and a bounty of 
one pence was paid for the burial of each cat. 
Dogs were brought in great numbers to kill off the 
wolves; but soon they outdid the wolves in killing 
sheep and goats, and a law was passed providing 
that every dog that killed a sheep should be hung 
and his master fined. 

A constant dread of massacre by the Indians 
hung over the village. Over six hundred of the 
inhabitants had been killed and many of their 
homes burned in the five years preceding 1692. 
The Indians were growing more restless and threat- 
ening. ‘They believed their lands had been wrong- 
fully taken from them, and the various tribes 
formed confederations to resist further encroach- 
ments of the white man. They finally united under 
King Phillip to wage a war of extermination 
against the entire white population. 

This was the bloodiest Indian war in our Ameri- 
can history. The fate of all the settlements in the 


Salem 39 


new world was at stake. It required a courage 
never surpassed in America to resist this dreaded 
foe. Many of the young men of Salem fell in the 
conflict —— but the settlement was preserved. 

Days of fasting and prayer became common. 
The people believed that deliverance came only 
through Divine intervention. The church became 
more and more the center of all life. No one 
could vote who was not a member of the church; 
no one could be a magistrate, or hold any office un- 
less he partook regularly of the Communion. It 
was an offense against the law to be absent from 
either the Church or the Communion. 

It was a real democracy within the Church. 
Everybody could participate in public affairs, so 
long as he was a member of the Church. Every de- 
tail of community life was considered in open meet- 
ings. These meetings were nearly always held out 
of doors. A majority vote decided the issue. 
When Roger Williams, Ann Hutchinson, and the 
Quakers protested against the will of the majority, 
they were expelled. ; 

The most emphasis was put on private conduct. 
What was proper dress for anyone was the busi- 
ness of everybody. Even the width of the brim 
of a man’s hat was regulated by a vote of the ma- 
jority. The length of the preacher’s coat —as well 
as his sermons—was a matter of ordinance. 
Courtship and marriage were encouraged, but al- 
ways under the watchful eye of the deacons. The 


40) The Salem Witch Trials 


moral and spiritual welfare of the children was of 
the utmost consideration. 

They had their ‘‘ dark days,”’ when the chickens 
went to roost in the daytime. These greatly 
alarmed the whole community; they forbode di- 
vine wrath; the end of the world was near at hand. 
_ They had among them many prophets and fortune 
tellers who often aroused the public mind almost to 
a frenzy. Three years after the witchcraft de- 
lusion, fortune tellers and necromancers were 
driven from Salem. 

The Indians believed in Evil Spirits which dwelt 
in the forests. ‘Their war dances were given to 
arouse these Spirits to acts of vengeance. The 
white settlers, coming in contact with Indian beliefs 
and superstitions, adopted many of them. 

It was a time of great uncertainty. The old 
methods of thought and living were gone and the 
people groped toward the light with unsteady feet. 
One thing alone they were certain of, and that was 
their faith in God. They were building a new 
republic upon a sure foundation. Their eyes were 
trained on Heaven while they grappled with the 
stupendous problems of earth with that stern and 
unflinching courage which alone could win in the 
great battle for a new Heaven and a new earth. 

Little progress had been made in medical science. 
Every ill that beset them was an evidence of Divine 
wrath. God was far away, and the Devil was near 
to afflict for an evil thought, or an evil deed. The 


Salem 4] 


people dwelt in small communities apart from the 
world. There were no railroads, telegraphs, tele- 
phones, steamboats, and newspapers, not even the 
coaches and carriages of fifty years later. 
_ The social life in Salem in 1692 would be dull 
indeed to the dwellers of today. No one could 
discuss the daily events in the world about for these 
were unknown. The natural result was that every- 
body discussed everybody else. It was an age of 
gossip. he latest scandals were advertised from 
the street corners. Everyone guilty of an offense 
against the moral law was branded with the first 
letter of that offense and made to sit in the stocks, 
or stand in a public place where his shame became 
manifest to all. Old and young strolled by to ex- 
press their scorn, then went home to talk it over 
with their neighbors. 

An elevated stool was set up in the churches 
where those who had broken their churchly vows 
were compelled to sit in repentance while the wor- 
shipers frowned, then gossiped over the latest 
scandal. Divorce was as unknown as it was un- 
necessary. When a man tired of his wife, he took 
a long voyage to the South Seas, or to Europe. 
After a little while, the wife married again and all 
went well. Many roving sailors were ordered by 
the stern court to bring their wives from England, 
vr go to them upon the next sailing vessel. 

It is interesting to note that most of the actors in 
the witchcraft tragedy had been married several 


42 The Salem Witch Trials 


times. All the women who were hung, except one, 
were either second or third time widows, or were 
married to second or third husbands. All the men 
but one had been two or three times married. 

Many of the families involved in the trials were 
intermarried, and there was much jealousy between 
them. This was responsible for several trials and 
at least two deaths upon the gallows. 

There was constant strife in the church. Nearly 
every minister of the First Church for many years 
had trouble with his congregation. Bitter jealousy 
arose over the choice of deacons and in the assign- 
ment of pews. No one could sit in a pew unless 
he had been assigned to it by the deacons. 

The style of dress, for both men and women, 
was regulated by the Church Council. Someone 
was always breaking the style. Women for wear- 
ing lace and silk collars and men for wearing peri- 
wigs were made to sit upon the high stool and be . 
frowned upon, or fined and sometimes sentenced 
to sit in the stocks. 

Children’s diseases were very common and less 
than one-half the children born grew to maturity. 
Smallpox was common and seldom was the village 
without its victims. ‘There were many beggars. 
These were mostly old women suffering from 
mental distraction. Two of the women hung were 
of this class. To be insane was to be possessed of 
a devil. 

The old were generally the first to be suspected 


Salem ~ 43 


of being in league with the Devil. No doubt many 
of them, like Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn, Bridget 
Bishop, and Giles Corey, were often mean and 
quarrelsome and gave occasion for much ill-feeling 
against them. It was in the days of pioneering, 
and a life was of little value unless it would engage 
in subduing the forests, the fields, and the Indians. 
For this reason, the aged were often allowed to 
shift for themselves. 

Everybody was superstitious. No one would 
walk alone at night for fear of meeting ghosts. 
Every empty house was haunted. Horseshoes were 
hung over the doorways to bring good luck and to 
drive away the spirits. They were heated and put 
in churns to make the butter “‘come”’ and to keep 
the witches out. Hunters carried silver bullets in 
their belts with which to shoot the witches. Clods 
of sanctified earth—taken from graves—and 
splinters of oak from a gallows were placed on the 
doorsteps of churches to keep the “‘ spooks”’ away. 

The long evenings were spent in telling of ghosts 
and haunted houses, of elfs and goblins, lately seen 
in the forest. 

Fortune telling was a common pastime. If a 
sailor went to sea, his wife consulted the fortune 
teller and followed his advice. Sometimes a long 
lost husband returned to find his wife married to 
another. Charms and amulets were worn about 
the neck, and tricks of magic were everywhere per- 
formed. Exhibitions of mesmerism and hypnotism 


44 The Salem Witch Trials 


were nightly performed in homes and sometimes 
upon the public streets. The ten “Circle Girls” 
were all eager subjects and had often been hypno- 
tized. 

It was believed that an invisible fluid passed 
from the eye of one to the eye of another, holding 
the other spellbound and helpless and often un- 
conscious. 

Shuttlecock and battledore were the chief amuse- 
ment games in the household. Shuttlecock was 
played with corks and feathers and was much like 
the children’s play today with toy balloons. The 
balloon was batted against the wall or ceiling and 
not allowed to touch the floor. 

Drinking rum was the common pastime of all. 
There was much drunkenness. The records of the 
early courts show that one-half of all the arrests of 
that day were due to intoxication. 

At least two of the judges who presided at the 
witchcraft trials were licensed rum sellers. Some 
of those who saw the devil after them had delirium 
tremens. At least two were known to have mis- 
taken the sign of the “ Blue Boar” on the outside 
of a drinking tavern for a “‘hellish, grinning devil ”’ 
in hot pursuit. 


CHAPTER VI 
THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE 


ape Re had been over twenty trials for witch- 

craft in New England prior to 1692. Many 
persons were convicted and several hung. Mar- 
garet Jones was hung in Boston in 1648, Mrs. 
Glover in 1688; Mary Parsons, in Springfield in 
1651; and Mary Oliver, in Cambridge in 1650. 
Mrs. Morse was convicted in Ipswich in 1680 and 
sentenced to death, but was reprieved. 

Governor Winthrop, a most excellent man, pre- 
sided at the trial of Margaret Jones and signed her 
death warrant. Governor Endicott performed the 
same service for Ann Hibben, and Governor Brad- 
shaw tried Mrs. Morse. Sir Matthew Hale 
(1665) in sentencing to death two old women in 
England said: “I have no doubt there are such 
creatures as witches. The Scriptures affirm it, and 
all nations have provided laws to punish them.” 
All of these things were more or less familiar to 
the people of Salem in 1692. 

The King of England revoked the charter of 
the Massachusetts Colony in 1691, thereby abro- 
gating the existing laws of the colony and establish- 
ing, as the law of Massachusetts, the Statutes of 
James I which prescribed the death penalty for 
witches. 

Sir William Phipps, the first governor appointed 

45 


46 The Salem Witch Trials 


by the King, arrived in Boston in May, 1692. He 
found the jails full in Salem, Ipswich, Cambridge, 
and Boston, and in order to speedily try the 
accused he created a new court called the court of 
“Oyer and Terminer”’ and appointed several 
judges to preside over the same. This was an 
illegal court, the governor having no power to 
create courts. William Stoughton, Deputy Gov- 
ernor, was appointed Chief Justice. The other 
judges were: Major Bartholomew Gedney, John 
Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, Major John Rich- 
ards, Wait Winthrop, Peter Sargent, and Captain 
Samuel Sewell. Two were from Salem and four 
from Boston. None of them were lawyers or had 
ever studied law. They were, however, known 
as honorable citizens. A young man recently from 
England, by the name of Thomas Newton, was 
appointed Attorney General. 

The trouble began shortly after Reverend 
Samuel Parris, of Boston, accepted the pastorate 
of the First Church at Salem. He had been a 
merchant and had operated much upon the Spanish 
Main. Financial reverses had led him to adopt 
the ministry. He was a man of considerable learn- 
ing, but narrow and bigoted. His salary was 
twenty pounds a year in money, and certain quan- 
tities of wheat, rye, malt, pork, beef, and firewood. 

Much dissatisfaction arose among the members 
of his congregation because he obtained title from 
the Church to the home in which he lived. Soon 


The Beginning of Trouble 47 


the Church was divided into two warring factions. 

The preacher brought with him from the South 
Seas two Indian slaves, a man known only as 
“Indian,” and a girl whose name was Tituba. 
Though a slave, Tituba was well versed in all 
the magic of the Spanish countries and performed 
some strange and wonderful feats. She became 
the center of attraction in the minister’s home. The 
young girls of the village gathered nightly at the 
parsonage to enjoy the company of Tituba and to 
practice her arts. The time was spent in telling 
fortunes and ghost stories, reading palms, tipping 
tables, listening to spirit rappings, and inducing 
hypnotic spells. : 

Under the strange influence of these spells the 
girls often became frantic and hysterical, they had 
violent fits, crouched under chairs, beds, and tables, 
threw firebrands about the house, and screamed 
violently. They created wild scenes upon the 
streets and often entered the church and disturbed 
the meetings. There were ten girls who nightly 
met with Tituba at the preacher’s home: 


HFA DCE EE ALLIS Goda hitcls pal etore ener n ws Age 9 
PAT ail VV 1baTS Ye city sae ta crel nie hp > yen 
PTIET MEALS TIALS ote Poe oS alas ceeate ates ers ye 
Leroy ecwistN ave git an ele ste se were dae SU) 
SUL E EVV BICOL CH ¢ asctntae sar ace ates a alece rah is 
Peters Betanel ubbDard vatox ca ee caiet ies ens oes wot? 
TEM pict ataed gE Seen t PEP PN ae OP Undo agee RPT fOTS 
Bsa CLC OLL a iidte dca proscisl hele bit atetaler 218 
Re EV ARUEE agi hrs dis! scnlecs sc heer Sretare ale weer b 


ara CONTIECUILLL No Wick foe on oie wy okene eras oe 


4S The Salem Witch Trials 


Two or three older women often met with the 
girls and did much to encourage them. They were 
Mrs. Sarah Bibber, Mrs. Pope, and Mrs. «Ann 
Putnam. 

Only two of the girls could write their own 
names; two were epileptic. Three were domestic 
servants and testified against their employers, who 
were hung largely upon their testimony. 

In February, 1692, the community became so 
aroused by the conduct of these girls that Dr. 
Gregg was called in to find out what was wrong. 
Not knowing of anything else to say, he declared 
they were “bewitched.” The girls were asked 
who bewitched them, but refused to answer. 

Tituba offered a remedy. She said: 


‘Take four ounces of rye meal, mix it with 
children’s water, roll it in a biscuit, bake it in ashes, 
and feed it to the dog. If the dog gets sick, the 
girls will tell who bewitched them.” 


This was done—the girls began to talk, and 
they never stopped until twenty innocent persons 
had been hung and over two hundred imprisoned. 

Nearly all who were arrested for witchcraft at 
Salem were accused by this group of girls. Ann 
Putnam testified in every case but one where the 
death penalty was inflicted. Mary Walcott 
testified in all but two. 

Of the three women who met with the “Circle 


Girls,’ Goodwife Sarah Bibber was by all odds 


The Beginning of Trouble 49 


the most dangerous. She was the chief actress and 
the girls were her understudies. She was after- 
wards tried as a witch and, to avoid death, con- 
fessed and was kept in prison until the end. Joseph 
Fowler, testifying against her, said: 


‘“Goodwife Bibber lived in my house, and I did 
observe that she was usually idle in her calling and 
much given to tattling and tale bearing, making 
mischief among her neighbors and very much given 
to speak bad words and call her husband bad 
names, and she was of a very unruly spirit.” 


John Porter said of her: 


‘She was an unruly, turbulent spirit, and often 
quarreled with her husband. She would often fall 
into strange fits when she crost her husband. She 
was double-tongued and called very bad names.” 


Thomas Jacobs said: 


‘‘Goodwife Bibber was often speaking one 
against another very obscenely and often wishing 
very bad wishes and she often said if her child 
fell into the river she would never pull it out. She 
used to wish ill wishes to herself and to her children 
and to others. The neighbors told me that John 
Bibber’s wife could fall into fits as often as she 
pleased.” 

Goodwife Pope was likewise a busybody and 
common scold. She met almost nightly with the 
girls and was their chief hypnotist. In the trial 
of Martha Corey, she pulled off her shoe and 
threw it at the prisoner, then fell in a fit. She was 
later tried and convicted as a witch. 


50 The Salem Witch Trials 


Ann Putnam, the third one of the group, was 
the mother of Ann Putnam, Junior, who testified 
in every case but one. There can be no doubt 
that the twelve-year-old daughter, who was an 
epileptic, was under the complete domination of 
her mother who coached her before and at every 
trial and who determined what accusations the 
half-witted girl should make. The mother in turn 
was influenced by her husband and his brothers, all 
of whom held official positions in both the church 
and village government and all of whom had 
quarreled with most of their neighbors. 

The whole group of girls and their three 
sponsors were nearly always in court when a trial 
was in progress. They stared wildly, threw many 
fits, rolled upon the floor, and accused the prisoner 
on trial of pinching them, or sticking them with pins 
and needles. Oftentimes the confusion in the court- 
room was so great that the court adjourned 
to restore order. Sometimes the judges were so 
aroused by the presence of spirits in the court- 
room that Chief Justice Stoughton, with a large 
switch in hand, rose and struck wildly about the 
room, to drive the evil spirits away so that the 
court might proceed with its work. 

When an arrest was made, a preliminary exami- 
nation was held nearly always before Judges John 
Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. ‘The accused 
were then held to the Grand Jury and were later 
tried by juries. 


The Beginning of Trouble 51 


The evidence in most of the trials before juries 
has mostly been destroyed. The testimony now 
obtainable was taken before examining magistrates, 
who reduced it to writing and filed it with the Clerk 
of the Court. Reverend Samuel Parris often acted 
as Clerk and wrote down the evidence. In many 
cases, he gave only his conclusions as to what 
transpired. He was also a witness in at least eight 
cases and always against the accused. 

After the preliminary examination, and while the 
prisoners were in jail, a special jury was always im- 
paneled to strip their bodies and examine them 
carefully for devil marks. It was believed these 
marks had been burned into the flesh by the devil’s 
red hot iron. 

The verdicts of these juries were always read at 
the trials of the accused. In some cases the pris- 
oner on trial protested to the judge that the marks 
found by the special jury were natural birth marks, 
but their protests were never heeded. When an 
unnatural mark was discovered, the jury probed it 
with pins and needles to see whether blood would 
issue therefrom. Sometimes a mark discovered on 
the first examination wholly disappeared before 
the second. This was evidence that the devil was 
at work trying to protect one of his own. 

Many prisoners escaped from prison before 
trial. This led to the belief that the devil aided 
them by changing their forms and allowing them 
to flee through cracks and crevices in the doors and 


52 The Salem Witch Trials 


windows. For this reason all were ordered to be 
chained hands and feet and the chains riveted to 
the floors of the jails. It is probable that their 
escape was due to the fact that the sheriff and 
guards were often in sympathy with their prisoners 
and helped them to their liberty. 

This was undoubtedly true of John Alden, a son 
of John Alden of the Mayflower, who escaped 
after his preliminary hearing and when he was sup- 
posed to be bound with chains in his cell. 

John Willard, a deputy sheriff, who had arrested 
and imprisoned many of the accused, expressed 
sympathy for his prisoners. ‘This led him to be 
“cried out’’ against and he was arrested, tried, 
and hung. 

Within fifty years after the witchcraft trials, 
most of the court records were destroyed. No one 
has ever been able to ascertain why they were de- 
stroyed or who destroyed them. It was generally 
assumed the work was done by the relatives 
of the men and women who were convicted and 
hung. 

The law of attainder was then in force, and by 
it the blood of all these relatives was attainted and 
their property subject to confiscation. It is only 
natural that they should want to destroy the evi- 
dence of their blood guiltiness. 

The evidence here produced is taken largely 
from the original documents on file in the clerk’s 
ofice. Many of them were executed at the time 


The Beginning of Trouble 53 


of the preliminary examinations, but some after 
the trials. 

There were no court reporters in that day, and 
in the preliminary hearings the evidence was gen- 
erally taken down by someone who volunteered to 
do it. In about one-half the cases, this was done 
by the Reverend Samuel Parris. Very little in 
these original documents is in the form of questions 
and answers. Most of it is in the form of recitals 
and is always written in the third person. ‘The 
spelling is abominable and the language used is 
equally bad. In the following chapters, each trial 
will be considered separately and instead of the 
third person, the first person will be used, and much 
of the misspelling will be eliminated to make the 
account more readable. 

Much in the preliminary hearings was common 
to all cases. So far as possible repetition has been 
avoided. Undoubtedly the evidence here given is 
not all the evidence offered, but it is all that is 
preserved. 

These chapters will deal only with the men and 
women who suffered death. ‘There were many 
others whose trials were exceedingly interesting, 
who were convicted and sentenced to prison, but the 
limits of this work will not permit consideration of 
them. 


CHAR LEE RiaMEL 
THE TRIAL OF BRIDGET BISHOP 


RIDGET BISHOP was the first witch tried at 
Salem, although not the first arrested. She 
-was about sixty years old, had been married three 
times, and her reputation was generally bad. Two 
of her husbands had often been arrested for trivial 
offenses. She was accused in 1680 of being a witch 
and was then tried and acquitted. For many years 
she had operated a drinking tavern on the road 
between Salem and Beverly. This was nothing 
less than a drunken and disorderly resort, very 
offensive to the better people of the village. 

She had often been reprimanded by the church 
for keeping her tavern open late at night. Every- 
body drank rum and played at shovel board. In 
attending upon her customers she always wore a 
black cap and a red paragon bodice, braided and 
looped up with many colors. 

It was not strange that she should have been 
the first accused of having made a covenant with 
the devil, considering her occupation. Her trial 
began on June 2, 1692. It was held in the court- 
house before a jury and seven judges. There were 
five indictments against her charging her with tor- 
menting Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth 
Hubbard, Ann Putnam, and Mary Walcott. The 
evidence at her preliminary hearing was taken by 

54 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 55 


Judges Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, who 
presided. 

A jury of nine women stripped the accused 
woman in jail and examined her body for devil 
marks. The first examination was had on June 
second at 10 o'clock in the morning. The verdict 
was as follows: 


“Wee, whose names are underwritten, being 
commanded by Captain George Corwin, Esquire, 
Sheriff of the County of Essex, this second day of 
June 1692 for to vew the bodyes of Bridget Bishop, 
alias Oliver, Rebecca Nurse, Alice Parker, Sarah 
Good, Elizabeth Proctor, and Susanna Martin 
finding the first three, namely: Bishop Nurse and 
Proctor by diligent search have discovered a preter- 
natural exerscence of flesh not usual in women and 
much unlike to the other three that have been 
searched by us, and yet they were in all the three 
women near the same place.”’ 


All of the nine women signed the verdict with 
their marks indicating that none of them could 
write their own names. The same nine women 
examined the same prisoners at four o'clock in the 
afternoon of the same day and returned the fol- 
lowing verdict: 

SALEM—AT ABOUT 4 O'CLOCK IN 
THE AFTERNOON. 
JUNE 2, 1692. 

‘We, whose names are subscribed to the within 
mentioned, upon a second search about three or 
four hours distant do find the said Bridget Bishop, 
alias Oliver, in a clear and free state from a pre- 


56 The Salem Witch Trials 


ternatural excrescence as formerly seen by us as 
also Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor.” 


This second verdict is also signed by the same 
women all using their marks. Both of these ver- 
dicts were read to the jury that tried the accused. 

As the preliminary trial opened, all of the girls 
appeared and when they came in sight of the 
accused fell to the floor in fits and said they were 
being pinched and stuck by pins and needles by the 
accused Bridget Bishop. 


The following is the examination by Judge 
Hathorne: 

Judge: “Bridget Bishop, what do you say? 
You here stand charged with sundry acts of witch- 
craft made upon the bodies of Mercy Lewis and 
Ann Putnam and others.” 

Bishop: “I am innocent. I know nothing of 
it. I have done no witchcraft.” 

Judge (to the girls): ‘‘ Look upon this woman 
and see if this be the woman that you have 
seen hurting you.” (to Bishop) ‘‘What do you 
say now that you see they charge you? Do you 
confess?” 

Bishop: “I never hurt them in my life. I 
never see these persons before. I am as innocent 
as the child unborn.” 

Judge: “Is not your coat cut?” 

Bishop: ‘No.’ (Whereupon the judge ex- 
amined her coat and found that it was cut in two 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop S77, 


ways and Jonathan Walcott said that the sword 
that he struck at Bishop with was not naked but 
was within the scabbard but that the rent made in 
the coat was apparently made by the very same 
sword as that Mr. Walcott did use.”’) 

Judge (addressing Bishop): ‘‘ What contract 
have you made with the devil?” 

Bishop: “I have made no contract with the 
devil. I never saw him in my life.” 

Mercy Lewis: ‘‘Oh, Goody Bishop, did you 
not come to my house the last night and did you 
not tell me that you would torment me?” 

Judge: “Tell the truth in this matter. How 
come this person to be tormented and to charge you 
with doing it?” 

Bishop: “I am not come here to say I am a 
witch and to take away my life.” 

Marshall Herrick: ‘How come you into my 
bed chamber one morning and asked me whether 
I had any curtains to sell? She is by some of the 
afflicted persons charged with murder.” 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these murders 
you are charged with?” 

Bishop: “I am innocent. I know nothing of 
it.” (Thereupon Bridget Bishop lifted up her eyes 
and all the girls were greatly tormented. ) 

William Stacey, age thirty-six, thereupon said: 
“About fourteen years gone I had the small pox 
and Bridget Bishop did visitt me and profess a 
great love for mein my affliction. After I got well, 


58 The Salem Witch Trials 


Bridget Bishop got me to do some work for her 
for which she gave me three pence which seemed 
to me as if it had been good money, but I had not 
gone over three or four rods before I looked into 
my pocket where I put the money but could not 
find it. 

‘Sometime afterwards I met the said Bishop 
in the street going to the mill. She asked me 
whether my father would grind her grist. I asked 
her why she asked me that and she answered: ‘ Be- 
cause folks count me a witch.’ Then I told her I 
knew my father would grind it. But being gone 
about six rods from the said Bishop suddenly my 
off wheel here sunk down into a hole upon plain 
ground and I was forced to get one to help me 
get out. Afterwards I went back to look for the 
hole where the wheel sunk in but could not find any 
hole. | 

‘After that in the winter about midnight I felt 
something between my lips pressing hard against 
my teeth and it was very cold insomuch that it did 
wake me, and I got up and set upon my bed and 
at the same time I did see the said Bridget Bishop 
at the foot of the bed and it was as light as if it had 
been day. It was either the said Bishop or her 
shape she having then a black cat and a black hat 
and a red coat. And the said Bishop or her shape 
clapped her coat close to the legges and hopt upon 
the bed and about the room and then went out. 

‘‘Sometimes afterwards I met the said Bishop 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 59 


by Isaac Stone’s hill and after I had passed by her 
my horse stood still with a small load going up the 
hill, and the cart fell down. Then I went to lift a 
bag of grain of about two bushels but could not 
budge it with all my might. 

‘T fully believe that the said Bishop was instru- 
mental in the death of my daughter Priscilla about 
two years ago. The child was a likely, thriving 
child and suddenly screached out and so continued 
in this unusual manner for about a fortnight and so 
died in a lamentable manner.” 

Samuel Gray of Salem, age about forty years, 
said: “About fourteen years ago I was going to 
bed one Lord’s Day night and after I had been 
asleep sometime wakened up, and, looking up, saw 
the house light as if a candle were lighted in it and 
the door locked. Then I saw a woman standing 
between the cradle in the room and the bedside and 
something looked upon me so I did rise up in bed 
and the woman vanished. Then I went to the door 
and found it locked and then I looked out again 
and saw the same woman whom I had seen a little 
before in the room and she was in the same garb 
and I said to her, ‘In the name of God what do 
you come for?’ ‘Then she vanished so I locked 
the door again and went to bed and then I felt 
something come to my lips cold and thereupon I 
started and looked up and again I did see the same 
woman with something between her hands holding 
it before my mouth and the child in the cradle gave 


60 The Salem Witch Trials 


a great screach as if it were greatly hurt and she 
disappeared, and when I took the child I could not 
quiet it in some hours. From which time the child 
before was a very likely, thriving child it now pined 
away and was never well although it lived some 
months in a sad condition and so dyed. 

‘Within a week I did see the same woman in the 
same garb and clothes and by her garb and counte- 
nance I do testify that it was the same woman that 
they now call Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, of 
Salem.” 

John Hale, age fifty-six, testified as follows: 
‘About five or six years ago Christiane, wife of 
John Trask, being in full communion in our church, 
came to me to desire that Bridget Bishop, her 
neighbor, might not be permitted to receive the 
Lord’s supper in our church ’till she had given said 
Trask satisfaction for some things that were 
against her: namely, because the said Bishop did 
entertain certain people in her house at unseason- 
able hours in the night who were drunk and played 
at shovel board whereby disagreement did arise in 
their families and all the people were intoxicated 
and the said Trask went again into the house and 
found the same game being played and he took the 
pieces they played and threw them into the fyre and 
reproved the said Bishop for permitting such dis- 
order. I gave Christiane Trask directions how to 
proceed further in this matter and indeed I doe 
fear if a stop had not been put to these disorders 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 61 


Edward Bishop’s house would have been a house 
of great prophainess and iniquity. 

‘But the next I heard of Christiane Trask was 
that she was distracted, and her husband told me 
that she was taken distracted in the night after she 
came from my house when she complained against 
Bishop. She continued some time distracted but 
sought the Lord by fasting and pray and the Lord 
was pleased to restore the said Trask to her reason 
again, but I know and now call to mind that her 
fits and those of the bewitched at Salem Village 
were much alike. As to the wounds which Chris- 
tiane Trask died of I observed three deadly ones. 
A piece of her windpipe was cut out and another 
one about through the windpipe and gulle to the 
veins they call jugular so that I then judged and 
still do believe it impossible for her to do, with a 
sharp pair of scissors, cut herself so without some 
extraordinary work of the devil or witchcraft.” 

Sam Shaltoch, age about forty-one years, testi- 
fied as follows: “Inthe year 1680 Bridget Oliver, 
formerly wife to old Goodman Oliver and now 
wife to Edward Bishop, did come to my house pre- 
tending to buy an old hog which they asked for, 
while after she went away with it and at sundry 
other times she came in a smooth manner and I 
have often thought she came to make mischief. 

‘About that time our eldest child, who promised 
as much as any other of the children, was taken 
in a very drooping condition and as Bridget Bishop, 


62 The Salem Witch Trials 


alias Oliver, came oftener to the house he grew 
wors and wors. As he would be standing at the 
door he would fall out and bruise his face upon 
the step, as if he had been pushed out by an 
invisible hand. After that Oliver brought me a 
pair of fleeces to dye. After that, sundry pieces 
of lace some of which were so short I could not 
judge they were of any use. She paid me two 
pence for dying them and I gave them to Henry 
Williams who lived with me and he told me that he 
put them in his purse among some other money 
which he locked up in a box and the purse and the 
money was taken out from his box and he never 
found out how afterwards. 

‘Just after this, our child was taken with a 
terrible fit. His mouth and eys turned aside in 
such a manner as if he was taken upon in death. 
After this he grew wors in his fits, and he would be 
almost always crying. For many months he would 
be daily crying until his strength was spent, and 
then he would fall asleep and then wake and fall 
to crying and moaning. Ever since he has been 
stupified and void of reason his fits still following 
him and I cannot judge otherwise but that he is 
bewitched and that Bridget Oliver, now called 
Bishop, is the cause of it all.” 

John Lauder of Salem, age thirty-two, testified: 
‘‘About seven or eight years ago I was living with 
Mr. John Gedney of Salem and, having had some 
controversy with Bridget Bishop about her fowles 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 63 


that used to come into our orchard, we argued 
some little while. After I was gone to bed to sleep 
and about the dead of night I felt a great weight 
upon my breast and, wakening, looked and did 
clearly see Bridget Bishop or her likeness sitting 
upon my stomach and I put my arms out of the 
bed to free myself from the great pressure. She 
presently laid hold of my throat and almost choked 
me and I had no strength or power in my hands to 
rise or help myself and in this condition she held 
me. 

‘‘Awhile after this Susana was in our orchard 
and I was then with her and said Bridget Bishop 
being then in her orchard which was next to ours 
my mistress, Susana, told said Bridget that I said 
she came one night in the dead of night and sat 
upon my breast which she denied and I thereupon 
to her face said it to be true and that I did plainly 
see her and she did then threaten me. Sometime 
after that on a Lord’s day and on the evening of 
the said day the door being shut I did see a black 
pig in the room coming toward me so I went 
toward it and it vanished away. 

‘Immediately after I sat down in a narrow bar 
and did see a strange shape come through the 
window and come and set just above the bar. The 
body of it looked like a munkey only the feets were 
like a cock’s feet and a face more like a man’s than 
a munkey’s and I became greatly frightened not 
being able to speak or to help myself by reason of 


64 The Salem Witch Trials 


fear. So the thing spoke to me and said: ‘Iam 
a messenger sent to you for I understand you are 
troubled in mind and, if you will be helped by me, 
you shall want for nothing in this world,’ upon 
which I endeavored to clap my hands upon it and 
said, ‘You devil, I will kill you,’ but could feel 
no substance and it jumped out of the window again 
and immediately came in by the porch although the 
doors were shut, whereupon I struck at it with a 
sticke but broke the sticke but felt no substance. 
Then it vanished way and I opened the back door 
and went out and coming toward the house I spied 
the said Bridget Bishop in the orchard and, seing 
her, [ had no power to set one foot forward but 
returned in again and going to shut the door I 
again did see the like character I before did see 
within the doors in such a posture as did seem it 
was going to fly upon me upon which I cried out, 
‘The whole armor of God be between me and 
you,’ upon which it turned back but then flew and 
put its feet against my stomach upon which I was 
struck dumb and so continued for about three days 
time and it also shook many of the apples from 
the trees which it flew over.” (Note: Bridget 
Bishop denied on the trial that she bewitched John 
Lauder, although it was true that she had had 
many differences with him. ) 

John Blye, age fifty-seven, testified: ‘‘ Me and 
my son, William, we were employed by Bridget 
Bishop to help take down the cellar of the owlde 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 65 


house she lived in and we found in the holes in 
the walls of the cellar several poppets made up of 
rages and hoggs brussels with headless pinns in 
them. This was about seven years last past.’ 

Richard Coman, age thirty-two, testified: 
‘“ Kight years since I then being in bed with my 
wife at Salem one night then in the latter part of 
May or the beginning of June, I saw a light burn- 
ing in our room I being awake and did then see 
Bridget Bishop come into the room and two more 
women which two women were strangers to me but 
the said Bishop came in her red paragon bodice 
although I did lock the door when I went to bed 
and found it locked when I did afterwards rise up. 
After they did appear the light was out the curtains 
to the foot of the bed opened and I did see her 
and presently she came and lit upon my body and 
she pressed me so that I could not speak not so 
much as to wake my wife although I endeavored 
to do so. 

‘The next night they all appeared again in a 
like manner, and the said Bridget Bishop took hold 
of me and hauled me out of the bed. The next 
day I, having told about what had happened, my 
kinsman William Coman told me he would stay 
with me and laid with me and see if they would 
come again. He induced me to lay my sword 
athwart my body after we went to bed and when 
we were both awake and discoursing together all 
the three women again came, and the said Bishop 


66 The Salem Witch Trials 


was the first as she had been the other two times. 
When William saw that they were all come again 
he was immediately struck speechless and could not 
move his hands and immediately they got hold of 
my sword and strove to take it from me but I held 
so fast as they did not get it away and I did then 
have liberty of speech, and did call to William, 
also to my wife and Sarah Phillips who laid with 
my wife who all told me afterwards they heard me 
but had no power to speak or sturr and the first 
that spake was Sarah Phillips and said: ‘In the 
name of God Goodman Coman what is the matter 
with you?’ So they all vanished away.” 

Sue Sheldon, age eighteen, testified. ‘“‘On the 
second day of June, 1692, I saw the apparition 
of Bridget Bishop and immediately appeared two 
little children and said they were twins and told 
Bridget Bishop to her face that she had murdered 
them by setting them into fits whereupon they 
died.” 

John Cook, age eighteen, testified: ‘About six 
or seven years ago one morning as I was in bed 
before I arose I saw Bridget Bishop standing in 
the chamber by the window and she looked on me 
and presently struck me on the side of the head 
which did very much hurt me.” 

John Bly testified: ‘I bought a sow of Edward 
Bishop of Salem and was to pay the price agreed 
upon to Jeremiah Neale of Salem and Bridget, the 
wife of said Edward Bishop, because she could 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 67 


not have the money paid into her came to my 
house and quarreled about it. Soon after this my 
sow had some pigs and she was taken with strange 
fits jumping up and knocking her head against the 
fence and she could not eat nothing and all her pigs 
soon began to foam at the mouth which Goody 
Henderson said she believed showed them to be 
afflicted; and she said they had theirs killed in 
such a manner when Bridget Bishop lived with 
them and if they did not die they used to cure 
them by giving them Okar and immediately we 
gave the sow Okar after which she grew better and 
then after the space of over two hours she did 
stop jumping and running between the houses. 
After that she was well again and we did appre- 
hend that she was bewitched by said Bishop.”’ 
Elizabeth Black, age about thirty, testified: 
‘Being at Salem on the day when George Corwin 
was tried and in the evening of the day coming 
from Salem into Beverley on horseback with my 
sister, then known by name as Abigail Woodberry, 
riding behind me and as we were riding and had 
come as far as Crane River Common, Edward 
Bishop and his wife overtook us on horseback. 
They are both in prison now under suspicion of 
witchcraft. And they had some words of differ- 
ence between them. We heard Edward Bishop 
finding fault with his wife and he said he would 
throw her into the water and she said it was no 
matter if he did—-or words to that effect. And 


68 The Salem Witch Trials 


so we rode along all together toward Beverley and 
she blamed her husband for riding so fast and she 
said she would do him mischief and he answered 
her it did not matter what she did. And then Ed- 
ward Bishop directed his speech to us and said she 
had been a bad wife unto him ever since they had 
been married and reckoned up many of her bad- 
nesses toward him and said that now of late she 
was wors than ever she had been before and the 
devil had come bodily into her and that she was 
familiar with the devil and that she set up all night 
with the devil.” 

This was substantially all of the evidence that 
was Offered in the trial of Bridget Bishop. Some 
of this evidence was taken down by Ezekial 
Cheever at the preliminary examination and was 
read to the jury at the final trial. The jury was 
made up of members of the church and were sup- 
posed to be chosen by law from all the duly quali- 
fied jurors. Almost immediately after the evidence 
was submitted to the jurors by the Chief Justice 
they returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty 
and sentencing her to be hung on the tenth day of 
June. The verdict was returned on June eighth. 
Immediately after its return, Judge Stoughton 
signed the death warrant which was addressed to 
George Corwin, sheriff, and reads as follows: 


‘Whereupon Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, at a 
special court held at Salem the second day of this 
month of June before William Stoughton, Esquire, 


The Trial of Bridget Bishop 69 


and his Associate Justices of the said court, was 
indicted for practicing and exercising on the nine- 
teenth day of April last past and diverse other 
days and times certain acts of witchcraft in and 
upon the bodies of Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, 
Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hub- 
bard of Salem whereby their bodies were greatly 
afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted, and tormented. 
To which indictment Bridget Bishop pleaded not 
guilty and put herself upon God. 

“Whereupon she was found guilty of the of- 
fense and witchcrafts and sentenced to death. 

‘Therefore, in the name of their majesties Wil- 
liam and Mary, now King and Queen of England, 
we command you that upon Friday next, being the 
tenth day of June to conduct the said Bridget 
Bishop from their majesties’ jail in Salem to the 
place of execution and there cause her to be hanged 


. d 4 
until she be dead WILLIAM STOUGHTON. 


The sheriff executed this writ and, in making his 
return, said he conveyed her to the place provided 
for her execution and caused the said Bishop to be 
hanged by the neck until she died and he then 
buried her at the same place. 

Cotton Mather says, that on the way to the scaf- 
fold Bridget turned and took a last look at the 
meeting house, and as she did, a great noise oc- 
curred in the church as if it would fall down and 
afterwards when they went to the church to see 
what had happened they found a great timber had 
been removed from the roof and carried clear 
across the church. 


70 The Salem Witch Trials 


After Bridget was hung, the road house which 
she had conducted was torn down and several 
poppets were found concealed in the walls. 
It was supposed these were used to bring sickness 
and death upon many people as well as upon cattle, 
pigs, and other animals. 

Edward Bishop testified against his wife and 

gladly followed her to the gallows. Soon after 
her death he married again. This was his third 
matrimonial venture. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE TRIAL OF THE REVEREND GEORGE 
BURROUGHS 


REVEREND GEORGE BURROUGHS gerad- 
uated from Harvard College in the class of 
1670 and was called to preach in the First Church 
at Salem in 1680. He inherited an old quarrel in 
the church which divided the membership; re- 
signed after two years and moved to Maine. 

In 1681 his wife died at Salem and he bought 
from John Putnam, clerk of the court and rum- 
seller, several gallons of Canary rum to be used at 
her funeral. This was not paid for when he re- 
moved to Maine. Three years later Putnam 
threatened him with arrest for debt. A meeting 
was arranged at the church in Salem to make a 
settlement of Burroughs’ accounts. When he left 
Salem, the church was very poor and his salary 
had not all been paid. He asked the church to 
pay the debt owing to Putnam from money due to 
him, and voluntarily returned to square up his 
accounts, _ 

When the deacons met in the church for this 
purpose, Thomas Putnam, who was a constable 
and brother of John, stepped forward and arrested 
the minister and took him to the jail where he 
remained several days before his debt was paid. 
He was then released and returned to Maine. The 

71 


Fz The Salem Witch Trials 


church owed him much more than was owing to 
Putnam. 

He preached at Wells, Maine, until 1692, when 
he was ‘“‘cried out against” by the “‘ Circle Girls” 
of Salem, chief among whom was Ann Putnam, 
daughter of Thomas Putnam, and Mercy Lewis, 
who had been his domestic servant while he lived 
in Salem, but who was now a servant in the family 
of John Putnam. A warrant was issued for him, 
and Thomas Putnam went to Maine and brought 
him back in chains and lodged him in prison at 
Salem. 

He was a short, heavy set, black-eyed, powerful 
man who possessed an ungovernable temper. At 
the time he was living with his third wife. Four 
indictments were voted against him charging him 
with bewitching Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, Mary 
Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard. 

While in prison, his body was stripped by a jury 
appointed for the purpose and examined for devil 
marks. Afterwards he was given a preliminary 
hearing before Judge Stoughton, MHathorne, 
Sewell, and Corwin, who held him to the Grand 
Jury. When he was brought into the court in 
chains and saw Mercy Lewis and Ann Putnam as 
his chief accusers he became so angry that he 
leaped backward and knocked down many of the 
witnesses against him. 

His trial lasted several days. He was convicted 
by a jury and sentenced to be hung on August nine- 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 73 


teenth. As he stood upon the ladder of the gallows 
he made a speech denouncing the whole affair and 
declaring his innocence. He repeated the Lord’s 
Prayer with such solemnity that many in the crowd 
murmured, and Cotton Mather is said to have 
ridden on horseback through the throng denounc- 
ing him. ‘This statement is Sea denied by the 
friends of Mather. 

_ The chief accusations brought against him at his 
trial were his great strength, his failure to attend 
communion, and his cruel treatment of his three 
wives. here is reason to believe that he was a 
heretic and deliberately refused to follow the lead 
of the church. He was, however, a man of ability, 
brave and courageous. He had often fought 
against the Indians in Maine and had received one 
hundred and fifty acres of land as a reward for 
his great bravery. For some reason he had tried 
to have his third wife sign a written covenant not 
to reveal his secrets. Apparently he was justified 
in this, for immediately after his execution this 
third wife seized all his property, married again, 
and deserted several young children of Burroughs 
by a former marriage. 

After he was hung, it is said his clothes were 
removed and an old suit put upon him. His body 
was then dragged through the streets by a halter 
to the place of burial and thrown into a shallow 
hole together with the bodies of John Willard and 
Martha Carrier, hung at the same time. 


74 The Salem Witch Trials 


So far as the record discloses, Burroughs was an 
honorable man. His death was directly due to the 
venom of the Putnams, with whom he had had 
many quarrels. 


The following is a memorandum of what 
transpired at his preliminary trial. It was written 
by the Reverend Samuel Parris: 

‘Being asked when he partook of the Lord’s 
Supper, he said it was so long ago he could not 
tell, yet he owned he was at a meeting one Sab- 
bath at Boston part of the day, and the other at. 
Charleston part of a Sabbath when the sacrament 
happened to be at both, yet he did not partake of 
either. He denied that his house at Casko was 
haunted, yet he owned there were toads there. 
He denied that he made his wife swear that she 
could not write to his father without his approba- 
tion. He owned that none of his children but the 
eldest was baptized.”’ 

The above examination was ‘in private, none of 
the bewitched being present. At his entry into the 
room, many, if not all, of the bewitched were 
grievously tortured, 

Sue Sheldon said that Burroughs’ two wives ap- 
peared to her in their winding sheets and said that 
man killed them. He was brought to look upon 
Sue Sheldon. He looked back and knocked down 
all of the afflicted who stood behind. Then he 
looked upon Mercy Lewis and she fell into a dread- 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 75 


ful and tedious fit. Then Mary Walcott, Eliza- 
beth Hubbard, and Susan Sheldon, they all fell 
into fits. Being asked what he thought of this, 
he answered it was an amazing and humbling provi- 
dence, and said: 

‘“Some of you may observe that when they began 
to name my name they could not name it.”’ 

Ann Putnam and Sue Sheldon said his two wives 
and two children were killed by him, then all the 
bewitched were so tortured that the authorities 
ordered them to be taken away. 

Sarah Bibber said he had bewitched her, though 
she had not seen him personally before as she 
knew. The verdict of a jury of seven men was then 
read to the jury as follows: 


‘Wee whose names are underwritten, having re- 
ceived an order from the sheriff, did search the 
bodies of George Burroughs and George Jacobs. 
We found nothing upon the body of the above said 
Burroughs but what is natural. But upon the body 
of George Jacobs we found three teets which, ac- 
cording to our best judgment, we think is not nat- 
ural for we run a pinn through two of them and 
he was not sinceible of it; one of them being 
within his mouth on the right side of his cheak, and 
the second one upon his right shoulder blade and 
the third upon his right hipp.”’ 


The following additional testimony was given: 

Samuel Weber, age thirty-six, said: ‘‘ About 
seven or eight years ago I lived at Casko Bay and 
George Burroughs was then minister there and, 


76 The Salem Witch Trials 


having heard much of the great strength of him — 
the said Burroughs —he came to our house while 
we were in discourse about the same and he then 
told me that he had put his fingers into the bung 
of a barrel of moleses, and lifted it up and turned 
to the right of him and set it down again.” 

Ann Putnam, age twelve, testified: ‘On April 
20, 1692, at evening I saw the apparition of a 
minister at which I was greviously affrighted and 
cried out, ‘Oh, dreadful, dreadful, here is a min- 
ister come! What are ministers converts to? 
Whence come you and what is your name for I will 
complain of you, though you be a minister, if you 
be a wizard?’ Immediately I was tortured by 
him, being racked and almost choked by him and 
he tempted me to write in his book which I refused 
with many outcries. And I told him I would not 
write in his book though he tear me all to pieces, 
but told him that it was a dreadful thing for him 
which was a minister that should teach little chil- 
dren to fear God should come persuading poor 
creatures to give their souls to the devil. 

“Tell me your name that I may know who you 
are. Then he told me his name was George Bur- 
roughs, and that he had three wives and that he 
had bewitched the first two of them to death, and 
that he killed Mrs. Lawson, and also killed Mr. 
Lawson’s children because he went to the East- 
ward with Sir Edmon and preached to the soldiers, 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 77 


and that he had bewitched a great many soldiers to 
death at the Eastward, and that he had made 
Abigail Hobbs a witch and several more, and he 
also told me that he was above a witch; that he 
was a conjurer.”’ 

Thomas Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever testified 
that they were with Ann Putnam at the time she 
met the apparition of George Burroughs and 
heard her say what she above said to him. 

The foregoing testimony of Ann Putnam was 
given on April 20, 1692. On the third day of 
May, 1692, she again testified as follows: 

‘George Burroughs told me that his first two 
wives would appear to me personally and tell me 
a great many lies but I should not believe them. 
Then immediately appeared to me two women in 
winding sheets at which I was greatly affrighted 
and they turned their faces toward Mr. Bur- 
roughs and looked very red and angry and told 
him that he had been a cruel man to them, and 
also told him that they should be clothed in white 
robes in Heaven when he should be cast into Hell 
and immediately he vanished away. As soon as 
he was gone the two women turned their faces 
toward me and looked as pale and told me they 
were Mr. Burroughs’ two first wives and that he 
had murdered them, and one told me that she 
was his first wife and that he had stabbed her 
under the left arm and put a piece of sealing 
wax on the wound and she pulled aside the sheet 


78 The Salem Witch Trials 


and showed me the wound, and also told me that 
she was in the house Mr. Paris now lives in when 
it was done; and the other told me that the wife 
that Mr. Burroughs now has had killed her in the 
vessel. And they both charged me that I tell these 
things to the magistrate before Mr. Burroughs’ 
face and if he did not own them they did not 
know but that they should appear there this morn- 
ing. Also Mrs. Lawson and her daughter Ann 
appeared to me, whom I knew, and told me that 
Mr. Burroughs murdered them. Also appeared 
to me another woman in a winding sheet and told 
me that she was Goodman Fuller’s first wife and 
Mr. Burroughs killed her because there was some 
difference between her husband and him.”’ 

Mercy Lewis testified at the trial August third 
as follows: 

‘On the seventh of May, 1692, in the evening 
I saw the apparition of George Burroughs whom 
I very well know which did grievously torment me 
and urged me to write in his book and then he 
brought me a new fashion book which he did not 
first bring and told me I might write in that book 
for that was a book in the study when I lived with 
him. But I told him I did not believe him for 
I had often been in his study and I had never 
saw that book there. Then he told me that he 
had several books in his study which I never saw, 
and that he could raise the devil, and now had 
bewitched Mr. Shepard’s daughter. And I asked 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 79 


him how he could go to bewitch her now that he 
was kept in Salem and he told me that the devil 
was his servant and he sent him in his shape to 
do it. 

‘Then he threatened to kill me if I said I should 
Witness against him, and he told me that he had 
made Abigail Hobbs a witch and several more. 
And I told him my life was now in the power of 
his hand and that I would not write though he 
did kill me, and on the ninth of May Mr. Bur- 
roughs carried me up to an exceedingly high moun- 
tain and showed me all the kingdoms of the earth 
and told me that he would give them all to me if 
I would write in his book and if I would not he 
would throw me down and break my neck but I 
told him they were none of his to give and I would 
not write if he throd me down on one hundred 
pitch forks.” 

Simon Willard, age forty-two, testified: “I was 
at the house of Mr. Robert Lawrence at Falmouth 
in Casko Bay in September, 1689, and Mr. 
Lawrence was commending Mr. George Bur- 
roughs for his strength saying that none of us 
could do what he could do for Mr. Burroughs 
could hold out his gun with one hand and I saw 
Mr. Burroughs put his hand on the gun to show 
us how he held it and while he held his gun there 
he held the gun out. Said gun was about seven- 
foot barrel and very heavy. I[ then tried to hold 
out said gun with both hands but could not do it.” 


80 The Salem Witch Trials 


Captain William Wormall, age forty-two, testi- 
fied: “I was at Casko in 1689. Captain Edwin 
Sargents was speaking of George Burroughs great 
strength and George Burroughs being there said 
that he had carried one barrel of moleses out of 
a canoe.” 

Sarah Vibber testified on the ninth of May as 
follows: “I was agoing to Salem Village one 
day and I saw the apparition of a little man like 
a minister with a black coat on and he pincht me 
by the arm and bid me go on with him but I told 
him I would not. When I came to the village 
I saw there Mr. George Burroughs, whose appari- 
tion most grievously afflicted and tormented Mercy 
Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Abigail Williams, and 
Ann Putnam by pinching and almost choking them 
to death. Also, several times since George Bur- 
roughs or his apparition has most grievously tor- 
mented me, and I believe in my heart that Mr. 
George Burroughs is a wizard and that he has 
most grievously tormented me and the others.” 

Elizabeth Hubbard testified: ‘ Last night there 
appeared a little black-headed man to me in black 
apparill. I asked him his name and he told me 
his name was Burroughs. ‘Then he took a book 
out of his pocket and opened it and bid me set 
my hand to it. I told him I would not. The 
lines in this book were red as blood. ‘Then he 
pincht me thrice and went away. The next morn- 
ing he appeared to me and told me he was above 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 81 


a wizard for he was a conjurer, and so went away 
but since then he has appeared to. me day and 
night very often and urged me to set my hand in 
his book telling me that if I would do so I would 
be well.” 

Thomas Greenslett, age forty years, testified: 
** At the first breaking out of the last Indian war I 
was at the house of Captain Joshua Scotts at Black- 
point and I saw Mr. George Burroughs lift a gun 
of six feet barrel or thereabouts by putting four 
fingers of his right hand into the muzzle of the 
gun and hold it out at arms length and at the same 
time I saw Burroughs take up a full barrel of 
moleses with but two fingers in the bung and carry 
it from the stage head to the door at the end of the 
stage without letting it down.” 

Deliverance Hobbs testified: ‘‘ Mr. Burroughs 
was at the witches’ sacrament in Mr. Paris’ pasture 
and he administered the sacrament to all of us.” 

Hannah Harris, age twenty-seven, testified: “I 
have lived at the house of George Burroughs at 
Falmouth and I many times took notice that when- 
ever I had discoursed with Burroughs’ wife when 
he was away from home and after he returned, he 
always scolded his wife and told her that he knew 
what she said when he was away, and one time 
when his wife had laid in bed about a week he 
fell out with her and he kept her by discoursing 
with her in the door until she fell sick and grew 
worse at night so I was afraid she would die and 


§2 The Salem Witch Trials 


called in their neighbors. And the said Burroughs’ 
daughter told one of the women what was the 
cause of her mother’s illness and the said Bur- 
roughs chide his daughter for telling and came to 
me and told me that I should not tell.” 
Benjamin Hutchinson testified: “‘On the twen- 
ty-first of April Abigal Williams said there was a 
little black minister that lived at Casko Bay who 
told her that he had killed three wives: two for 
himself and one for Mr. Lawson, and that he had 
made nine witches, and that he could hold out the 
heaviest gun in Casko Bay with one hand and no 
‘other man could hold out the said gun with both 
hands. And I asked her whereabouts this little 
man stood, and I had a three tined fork in my 
hand and I threw it down where she said he stood 
and she presently fell and when she arose said: 
‘ You have torn his cott for I heard it tear.’ ” 
Susan Sheldon testified: ‘George Burroughs 
brought a book to me and told me if I would not 
set my hand to it, he would tear me to pieces. I 
told him I would not. Then he told me he would 
starve me to death. The next morning he told 
me he could not starve me to death but he would 
choke me. He told me his name was Burroughs 
which had preached at the village. The last night 
he came to see me he asked whether I would go 
to the village and witness against him. I asked 
him if he was examined. Then he told me he was 
and I told him I would go then and he told me 


Trial of the Reverend Burroughs 83 


he would kill me this morning. Then he appeared 
to me at the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll and 
told me that he had been the death of three chil- 
dren at the Eastward and had killed two of his 
wives. The first he smothered and he choked and 
killed two of his own children.” 


PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT OF 
CHARLES BURROUGHS, OLDEST SON 
OF REV. GEORGE BURROUGHS, 
FOR COMPENSATION. 


‘Our Dear and Honored father, Mr. George 
Burroughs, was apprehended in April 1692 at 
Wells and imprisoned several months in Boston 
and Salem jails and at last condemned and executed 
for witchcraft. 

“We were left a parsell of small children help- 
less, and a mother-in-law with one small child of 
her own. Whereby she was not capable to take 
care of us, by all of which our father’s estate was 
most of it lost and expended. We cannot tell cer- 
tainly what the loss may be but ye least we can 
judge it was fifty pounds, beside the damage that 
has accrued to us many ways is some hundred 
pounds. 

‘“We earnestly pray ye attainder may be taken 
off and fifty pounds may be restored.” 

—CHARLES BURROUGHS. 


In 1711 the General Court awarded the heirs of 
George Burroughs fifty pounds. 


CHAPTER IX 
THE TRIAL OF GILES AND MARTHA COREY 
ARTHA COREY was the third wife of Giles © 


Corey. She was sixty-two years old and 
Giles was eighty-one. For many years they had 
lived on a little farm of fifty acres just outside of 
Salem. The old man had many quarrels with his 
neighbors and had sustained an action for libel 
against several persons who had accused him. 

He was tried seventeen years before for kill- 
ing a man by the name of Goodell, but was 
found not guilty. He had been fined for beat- 
ing a man, and tried for setting fire to John 
Proctor’s house. 

All of these things had given him an unsavory 
reputation. He gloried in his great strength and 
even at his age could “throw” all the younger 
men. He did not join the church until he was 
eighty years old although his wife Martha strongly 
urged him to do so. He believed in witchcraft but 
Martha did not. 

Martha was first arrested on March nineteenth 
and taken to the meeting house for an examination 
before Judges Hathorne and Corwin. 

Giles followed her and several times protested at 
her cruel treatment by Judge Hathorne. He was 
forced to testify against her, and she was convicted 
and sentenced to death. When Giles loudly pro- 

84 a 


Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 85 


tested he was accused and immediately placed on 
trial. 

When asked to plead ‘‘ Guilty or not guilty” he 
refused and was at once condemned to death by 
torture. The ancient penalty of peine forte et dure 
was imposed upon him. It is the only case in 
America where this penalty was ever inflicted. It 
meant that he should be slowly pressed to death. 

Under the law, if one was convicted of witch- 
craft he was put to death and his property con- 
fiscated, his blood and that of his descendants at- 
tainted. His heirs could neither become citizens 
nor hold property. Giles Corey had accumulated 
considerable property. If he did not plead, he 
could not legally be tried and his property could not 
be confiscated. 

The husbands of two of his daughters by a 
former marriage testified against Martha Corey at 
her trial. This so angered Giles that he deter- 
mined to disinherit them. He made a will just 
before his death, giving all of his property to his 
sons and daughters, who had been loyal both to 
him and his wife. This last act is characteristic 
of his life. In order to punish disloyalty he died 
like a Roman martyr. 

He was stretched upon a slab and bound hands 
and feet. A heavy stone was placed upon his 
breast. Gradually other stones were added until 
his breath was gone. 

The trial of Martha reflects shame and dis- 


86 The Salem Witch Trials 


honor upon the Reverends Samuel Parris and 
Nicholas Noyes. After her conviction these two 
ministers called upon her in prison where she was 
chained and asked her to confess. She refused and 
was excommunicated. 

She was hung September twenty-second, three 
days after her husband so miserably perished. 
During her trial, Mrs. Pope, one of the gossiping 
old women who met with the “‘ Circle Girls,” pulled 
off her shoe and threw it at the prisoner. 

Martha Corey was a woman of excellent charac- 
ter. From the first she did not believe in ghosts 
or witches and strongly opposed her husband’s 
frequent attendance upon the trials. 

A horseshoe was kept suspended over every 
door of her house leading to the outside world. 
This counted against her at her trial, as it was 
evidence of a belief in the power of the horseshoe 
to keep away the evil spirits. 

The following is the _,.uence now preserved: 


The Reverend Samuel Parris was the first wit- 
ness against the accused. He also wrote down the 
testimony at the preliminary hearing. He said: 
‘‘T was present at the prisoner’s preliminary exam- 
ination, and I saw that before her hands were held, 
several of the afflicted were pincht, and when she 
bit her lip several of them were bitten, and some 
of the uilicted said there was a black man whisper- 
in in her ear.” 


[rial of Giles and Martha Corey 87 


Giles Corey, being compelled to testify, said: 
“ Last Saturday in the evening, sitting by the fire, 
my wife asked me to go to bed. I told her I would 
go to prayer, and when I went to prayer, I could 
not utter my desires with any sense, nor open my 
mouth to speak. My wife did perceive it and came 
toward me. After this I did according to my duty. 
Some time last week I fitcht an ox well out of the 
woods about noon, and he lay down in the yard. 
I went to raise him to yoke him, and he could not 
rise but dragged his hinder parts as if he had been 
hip shot, but after did rise. I had a cat sometime 
last week strangely taken and I did think she would 
have died. Presently my wife bid me knock her 
in the head, but I did not. Now she is well. My 
wife has been wont to sit up after I went to bed, 
and I have perceived her to kneel down on the 
hearth as if she were at prayer; but I heard noth- 
ing.” 

Edward Putnam, who had for many years an 
outstanding quarrel with Giles Corey, testified: 
“Ann Putnam did often complain to us that 
Martha Corey did torture her by pinching and 
sticking her, and on the twelfth day of March I 
went with Ezekiel Cheever to Martha Corey’s 
house to talk with her about what we had heard; 
but we went first to the house of Thomas Putnam 
to see Ann Putnam and ask her what clothes 
Martha Corey had on. When we asked Ann she 
said she could not tell because Martha Corey had 


88 The Salem Witch Trials 


blinded her. When we got to Martha Corey’s 
house, the first thing she asked us was, ‘What 
clothes does she say I have on?’ and she smiled as 
if she had showed us a trick. 

‘We had a great deal of talk with her, but she 
seemed to be in no way concerned. She said she 
did not think there were such thing as witches, and 
we told her we were fully satisfied there were such 
things, and after much discourse, too much to re- 
late, we returned to Thomas Putnam’s house, and 
we found that after we were gone Martha Corey 
came again and afflicted Ann Putnam. I was pres- 
ent when Martha Corey was examined, and she did 
as she said she would, opened the eyes of the magis- 
trates and ministers, for by biting her lip the 
afficted persons were bit; then she would pinch 
them by nipping her fingers together, and when 
that was discovered and her hands held, she 
afflicted them by working her foot; and when this 
was discovered she prest upon the seate with her 
breast and Mistress Pope was greatly afflicted by 
great pressure upon her stomach.” 

Mary Warren testified: ‘‘ While I was in Salem 
prison I saw Giles Corey, who was then in close 
prison, and he told me the magistrates were going 
up to his farm and bring down a lot of witches to 
torment me. He threatened me and said he would 
throw me into a fit. When I saw him he was in 
prison with a band about his waist, a white cap 
on his head, and he was in chanes.” 


Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 89 


Upon the trial of Giles Corey on September 
ninth, Sarah Vibber said: ‘‘ The appearance of 
Giles Corey has many times afflicted me. He has 
often whipped me and cut me with a knife.” 

Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis both said that 
they were tormented by Giles Corey while he was 
in prison and chained to the floor. 

Elizabeth Woodwell testified: “I saw Giles 
Corey at a meeting in Salem on a lecture day since 
he has been in prison. He or his apparition came 
in and sat in the middlemost seat of the men’s 
seats by the post. This was the lecture day before 
Bridget Bishop was hanged; and I saw him come 
out with the rest of the people.” 

Benjamin Gould testified: ‘‘On the sixth day 
of April Giles Corey and his wife came to my bed- 
side and looked upon me some time, and then went 
away; and immediately I had two pinches upon my 
side. Also, at another time I saw Giles Corey and 
John Proctor, and I had such a payn in one of my 
feet that I could not ware my sho for two or three 
days.” 

Susanna Sheldon testified: ‘‘The specter of 
Giles Corey murdered his first wife and would have 
murdered this one if she had not been a witch. His 
first wife gave him nothing but skim milk.” 

John Dorich, aged sixteen, testified: ‘Giles 
Corey came to me September fifth and threatened 
to kill me. He said he wanted some platters, for 
he was going to a feast; and he said he had a 


90 The Salem Witch Trials 


good mind to ask my dame but he said she would 
not let him have them, so he took the platters and 
carried them away.” 

Hannah Small testified: ‘On the twelfth of 
September, at the widow Shaflin’s house in Salem, 
there appeared to us a great number of witches, 
as near as we could tell, about fifty, thirteen of 
which we knew, who did receive the sacrament, 
amongst which we saw Giles Corey who brought 
us bread and wine, urging us to partake; but, be- 
cause we refused, he did grievously torment us and 
I believe in my heart that Giles Corey is a wizard.” 

The following is an old poem, written shortly 
alters! 692: 


Come all New England men 
And hearken unto me, 

And I will tell what did befalle 
Upon ye Gallows Tree. 


In Salem Village was the place, 
As I did heere them saye, 

And Goodwyfe Corey was her name 
Upon that paynfull daye. 


This Goody Corey was a witch 
The people did believe, 

Afflicting all the Godly ones, 
Did make them sadlie greave. 


There were two pious matron dames 
And goodly madiens three 

That cryed upon this heynous witch 
As you will quickly see. 


Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 91 


Goodwyfe Bibber she was one, 
And Goodwyfe Goodall two, 

These were ye afflicted ones 
By fyts and pynchings too. 


She rent her cloaths, she tore her haire, 
And lowdly she did crye, 

* May Christe forgive mine enemies 
When I am called to die!” 


This Goodwyfe had a Goodman too, 
Giles Corey was his name, 

In Salem goal they shut him in 
With his blasphemous dame. 


Giles Corey was a wizzard strong, 
A stubborn wretch was he, 

And fitt was he to hang on high 
Upon ye Locust Tree. 


So when before ye magistrates 
For tryall he did come, 

He would not true confession make 
But was completely dumbe. 


“Giles Corey,” said the magistrate, 
‘“‘Whast thou here to pleade 

To those who now accuse thy soul 
Of crimes and horrid deed.” 


Giles Corey he sayed not a word, 
No single word spoke he. 

“Giles Corey,” sayeth the magistrate, 
“We'll press it out of thee.” 


They got them then a good wide board, 
They layde it on his breast, 

They loaded it with heavy stones 
And hard upon him prest. 


92 The Salem Witch Ecials 


“More weight,” now sayd the wretched man, 
“ More weight,” again he cried. 

And he did no confession make 
But wickedly he dyed. 


Dame Corey lived but six days more, 
But six days more lived she, 

For she was hung at Gallows Hill 
Upon ye Locust Tree. 


Longfellow has immortalized Giles and Martha 
Corey in his poem entitled Giles Corey of the Salem 
Farms. 

A few lines of it will not be out of place: 


FROM THE PROLOGUE 


’"T was but a village then; the good man ploughed, 
His ample acres under sun or cloud; 

The good wife at her doorstep sat and spun 

And gossiped with her neighbor in the sun. 

The only men of dignity and state 

Were then the Minister and the Magistrate, 

Who ruled their little realm with iron rod, 

Less in the love, than in the fear of God. 

And who believed devoutly in the Powers 

Of Darkness, working in this world of ours, 

In spells of Witchcraft, incantatious dread, 

And shrouded apparitions of the dead. 

And ye who listen to the Tale of Woe, 

Be not too swift in casting the first stone, 

Nor think New England bears the guilt alone 

This sudden burst of wickedness and crime 

Was but the common madnéss of the time 

When in all land, that lie within the sound 

Of Sabbath bells, a Witch was burned or drowned. 


Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 93 
Judge Hathorne to Martha Corey: ‘‘ Why 


does your specter haunt and hurt this person?”’ 

Martha Corey: “I do not know! I cannot 
help it! Iam sick at heart!”’ 

tues worey< 2 +O! Martha! WViartha + Met 
me hold your hand!” 

Judge Hathorne to Giles Corey: ‘No! Stand 
aside, old man!” | 

Mary Walcott: ‘‘Look there! Look there! 
I see a little bird, a yellow bird perched on her 
finger; and it pecks atme. Ah! it will tear mine 
eyes out!” 

Martha Corey: (leaning against the railing) 
“Giles, wipe these tears of anger from mine 
eyes; wipe the sweat from my forehead! I am 
faint! ”’ 

Giles Corey: ‘I bear witness in the sight of 
Heaven and in God’s house here, that I never knew 
her as otherwise than patient, brave and true, faith- 
ful, forgiving, full of charity, a virtuous and in- 
dustrious and good wife!” 

Judge Hathorne: “Tut, tut, man! Do not 
rant so in your speech. You are a witness, not an 
advocate! Here, Sheriff, take the woman back to 
prison!” 


Giles Corey (when called by Judge Hathorne 
to plead): ‘‘I willnot plead. If I deny, I am con- 
demned already in courts where ghosts appear as 
witnesses and swear men’s lives away. If I con- 


94 The Salem Witch Trials 


fess then I confess a lie, to buy a life which is not 
life, but only death in life. I will not bear false 
witness against any, not even against myself, whom 
I count least. I have already the bitter taste of 
death upon my lips. I feel the pressure of the 
heavy weights that will crush out my life within 
this hour but if a word could save me, and that 
word were not the Truth, nay, if it did but swerve 
a hair’s breadth from the Truth I would not say 
itn 

The Sheriff: ‘‘ Giles Corey, come, the hour has 
struck.” 

Giles Corey: “I come, here is my body; ye may 
torture, but the immortal soul ye cannot crush.” 


A Man: “Hark! Whatisthat? The passing 
bell. He’s dead.” 

Cotton Mather (at Giles Corey’s grave in the 
Potters’ Field —the body of Corey with a heavy 
stone upon his breast). ‘O sight most horrible! 
In a land like this spangled with churches Evangeli- | 
cal inwrapped in our Salvations, must we seek in 
mouldering statute books of English Court some 
old forgotten Law, to do such deed? Those who 
lie buried in the Potters’ Field will rise again, as 
surely as ourselves that sleep in honored graves 
with epitaph! And this poor man, whom we have 
made a victim hereafter will be counted as a 
martyr!”’ 


Trial of Giles and Martha Corey 95 


The following is the petition presented to the 
General Court for financial relief by the heirs of 


Giles and Martha Corey: 


PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT 

Dee BE RS el7 10. BY  EUIZABE VE 
CORY, “DAUGHTER OF GILES AND 
MARTHA CORY, ON HER OWN BE- 
HAGE ANDSON* BEHALE OF 7lHE 
OTHER CHILDREN FOR COMPEN- 

SATION DUE TO THE LOSS OF 
PARENTS. 


‘Sometime in March, our honored father and 
mother, Giles Cory and Martha his wife was ac- 
cused for soposed witchcraft and imprisoned from 
one prison to another; from Salem to Ipscott and 
from Ipscott to Boston and from Boston to Salem 
and remained in close confinement for four months. 

‘“We ware at the whole charge of their main- 
tenance and it was so much the more by reason of 
so many removes in all of which we could doe no 
less than accompanie them. 

‘But that which breaks our hearts, and for 
which we goe a mourning still, is that our father 
was put to soe cruell and painful a death as being 
prest to death. After our father’s death, the Sher- 
iff threatened to seize our father’s estate and for 
fear thereof wee complied with him and paid him 
11 pounds six shillings in moine by all of which we 
were greatly impoverished by being exposed to sell 
creatures and all other things for a little more 
than half the worth to get the money to pay, and 
maintain our father and mother in prison, 


96 The Salem Witch Trials 


‘But that which grieves us most is that we are 
not only impoverished but also reproached and so 
may be to all generations. 

‘We cannot judge our necessary expenses to be 
less than 10 pounds.” 


ELIZABETH CORY 
Daughter of Giles Cory. 


The Court allowed twenty-one pounds in full 
satisfaction for the property loss sustained by the 
heirs of Giles Corey. 

This was paid in October, 1711. 


CHAR LE RX 
THE TRIALS OF SARAH GOOD AND SARAH OSBORN 


See GOOD was the first person arrested at 

Salem in 1692 on a charge of witchcraft. She 
was a distracted, melancholy old woman of nearly 
seventy years, who had fora long time been a street 
beggar. When she was refused alms, it was her 
habit to scold and curse violently. 

She had been married three times, but now lived 
alone despised by everybody. John Good, of ill- 
repute, was her last worthless husband, and he had 
deserted her. He testified: ‘‘ My wife often ap- 
pears to be possessed of the devil.” 

On the following day, March second, Sarah Os- 
born was arrested and charged with bewitching 
Ann Putnam and the other “Circle Girls.’”’ She 
was an old woman who had long been bed-ridden 
and had often quarreled with her neighbors. She, 
too, was a grass widow—one of her husbands 
having mysteriously disappeared. Two or three 
years before the witchcraft troubles she lived alone 
on her little farm not far from the village and, 
being anxious to find a husband, she bought old 
Alexander Osborn for fifteen pounds, married him, 
and set him to work on her farm. 

It was the custom in those days if one in England 
wanted to come to America, he would sell himself 
for the cost of his transportation. In this way, 

97 


98 The Salem Witch Trials 


a 


widow Sarah got Osborn, a man as worthless as 
old John Good. When his wife was on trial he 
volunteered to testify against her. He said she 
sold herself to the devil and would not attend 
church or the communion. 

After their arrest, both women were taken to 
the house of Jonathan Corwin, now called the 
‘Witch House.” They were in chains and in the 
custody of two constables, who made them sit 
on an elevated platform so they could be plainly 
seen by all. The examination was conducted 
by Judges Hathorne and Corwin, who wrote 
down the testimony and certified it to the Grand 
jury. 

They were later tried, convicted, and sentenced 
to be hung, but Sarah Osborn died in jail on May 
tenth where she had been bound in chains since her 
arrest. Sarah Good was hung on July nineteenth. 

Tituba, the Indian, was tried at the same time 
but, having pleaded guilty, her life was saved and 
she remained in prison until the craze was over, 
when she was sold as a slave to pay her prison fees. 

Little Dorcas Good, the five year old daughter 
of Sarah Good, testified against her mother. She 
was then accused of being a witch by Ann Putnam 
and Abigail Williams and a warrant issued for her 
arrest. [he sheriff carried her into court. Ann 
Putnam testified that Dorcas Good bit her on the 
arm and exhibited in court the marks of the child’s 
teeth. The judges ordered her to be bound and 


Trials of Good and Osborn oD 


held in jail with her mother. Here she remained 
until after her mother’s execution. 

An old record reads as follows: “To chanes for 
Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn, 14 shillings.” 
“To keeping Sarah Osborn from March seventh 
till she died May tenth, 1 pd 3.” 

When the prisoners were brought in all the 
afflicted were present and many of them fell in 
fits and were greatly tormented. 


The following is the record made by Judge 
Hathorne together with all the additional evidence 
now preserved. 

Judge Hathorne said: ‘Who is it that tor- 
ments the girls?” 

The accused said “Sarah Osborn”; then all the 
tortured said it was both Sarah Osborn and Sarah 
Good that did torment them. 

Tituba testified: ‘Sarah Good is very strong 
and she pulled me last night to Mr. Putnam’s 
home and made me hurt the child. We rode ona 
pole. I rode behind her and took hold of her. 
We rode over the trees and path, and we could see 
perfectly. Sarah Good told me I must kill some- 
one with a knife and we went to kill Putnam’s 
child. She told me she would cut off my head if 
I didn’t do it. She came to me last night when 
my master was in prayer, and would not let me 
hear. She hath a yellow bird, and her ears are 
stopped when they hear prayer. I saw her have a 


100 The Salem Witch Trials 


cat beside the bird, and another thing all over hair. 
She makes me pinch the girls and stick them with 
pins. She pincht me on the legs.” (Note: Here 
she was searched and found it was so.) 

Dorcas Good, five years old, testified against her 
mother, saying: ‘‘ My mother has three birds, one 
black and one yellow; and with these she afflicts the 
girls.” 

On the trial, Deliverance Hobbs made a con- 
fession and said: “I was at the witches’ meeting 
in the Reverend Sam Parris’ pasture on April 22, 
and I saw Sarah Good there. Mr. Burroughs 
preached.” 

Joseph Herrick testified: ‘‘On the first of 
March I, being the constable for Salem, had a 
warrant for the arrest of Sarah Good to carry her 
to the gaol at Ipswich, and that night I set a guard 
to watch her at my house, namely; Samuel Bray- 
book and Jonathan Baker; and the next morning 
they told me that Sarah Good was gone for some 
time from both of them, and barefoot and bare- 
legded; and I was also informed, that night Eliz 
Hubbard complained that Sarah Good came and 
afflicted her, being barefoot and bare-legded, and 
Samuel Sibley said, ‘I took notice of Sarah Good 
in the morning and one of her arms was bloody 
from a little below the elbow to the wrist.’”’ 

William Batten, age seventy-six, said: ‘‘ A week 
ago Susannah Sheldon being at the house of Wil- 
liam Shaw, had her hands tied with a rope in such 


Trials of Good and Osborn 101 


a manner we were forced to cut the string before 
we could get her hands loosed; and when she was 
out of her fit she told us it was Sarah Good that 
did tye her. 

‘At this tyme there was a broome carried away 
out of the house and put in an apple tree two times, 
and a shirt once, and a milk tubbe. Once was car- 
ried out of the house three poles into the woods.” 

Johanna Chibbum testified: “Sarah Good’s 
least child did tell me she was a witch and that her 
mother did give her to the devil.” 

Henry Herrick, age twenty-one, said: ‘‘ Two 
years since, Sarah Good came to our house and 
desired to lodge there, but my father forbid it, and 
she went away grumbling; and we did follow her 
lest she should lie in the barn and by smoking of 
her pipe, should fire the barn, and seeing her make 
a stop near the barn, we did tell her to go on. 
About a week after, two of our cattle were re- 
moved from their place, and several of our cattle 
were let loose in a strange manner.”’ 

Sarah Bibber said: ‘Saturday night I saw the 
apparition of Sarah Good standing by my bedside, 
and she pulled aside the curtain and looked upon 
my child; and immediately the child was strake 
with a great fit——that my husband and I could 
hardly hold it.” 

Samuel Braybrook said: ‘‘ Carrying Sarah Good 
to Ipswich, the said Sarah Good leapt off her 
horse three times, which was between twelve and 


102 The Salem Witch Trials 


three o’clock; and she said she would not own 
herself to be a witch, unless she was a proud one, 
and she said there was no evidence against her ex- 
cept an Indian, and she kept railing against the 
magistrates and endeavored to kill herself.” 

Sarah Gadge said: ‘About two years ago Sarah 
Good came to our house and would come into the 
house, but I told her she could not come in be- 
cause she had been with them that had the small- 
pox; and with that she fell to muttering and the 
next morning one of our cows dyed in a sudden 
terrible and strange manner,” 

Thomas Gadge said: ‘‘Some neighbors did 
open the cow which so died and could find no 
natural cause of said cow’s death.”’ 


CHAPTER XI 
THE TRIAL OF ELIZABETH HOWE 


bo eee HOWE was about seventy years 
old at the time of her arrest. She lived with 
her husband, who was ninety-four years old and 
blind. For many years she had been the sole sup- 
port of the family. So far as can be learned, she 
was a faithful, Christian woman. She lived at 
Topsfield, not far from Salem. She was first ar- 
rested on the twenty-eighth day of May and taken 
to the home of Nathaniel Ingersoll in Salem where 
she was charged with bewitching Mary Walcott 
and Abigail Williams. While she was in jail her 
daughter and her old, blind husband rode on horse- 
back twice each week to see her. 

After her preliminary examination, she was sent 
to the jail in Salem and escaped. She wandered 
for a long time in the forests not far from Boston, 
enduring great cold and hardship. Later, she was 
recaptured and taken to the jail, tried before a jury, 
and hung on July nineteenth. 


At her preliminary examination before Judge 
Hathorne, the following took place. It is certified 
by Samuel Parris, the minister. “* When Elizabeth 
Howe entered the room, Mercy Lewis and Mary 
Walcott fell in a fit and Mary Walcott, soon after 
being revived, exclaimed that the prisoner pinched 

103 


104 The Salem Witch Trials 


and choked her. Ann Putnam, who was present, 
said that she also had been hurt.” 


Judge: ‘ Goodwife Howe, what do you say to 
these?” 

Howe: “If it was the last moment I was to 
live, God knows I am innocent in this matter.” 

Judge: ‘Did you take notice that whenever you 
looked upon Mercy Lewis she was struck down?” 

Howe: “I cannot help it. J am innocent.” 

Judge: “Is this the first time you were ever 
examined?” 

Howe: «"* Yes,: sir.” 

Judge: ‘Do younot know that once at Ipswich 
you were examined ?”’ 

Howe: ‘This is the first time I ever heard of 
it.’ (Note: Abigail Williams here cried out she 
was being hurt and said, “‘ She brought me a book.” 
Ann Putnam said she stuck a pinn in her arm.) 

Judge: ‘What do you say to these?” 

Howe: “I cannot help it.’ (Note: Mary 
Warren cried out that she was stuck with a pinn 
and Abigail Williams cried out that she was pincht 
and hadi great prints of this on her arm.) 

Judge: “Have you not seen some apparition?” 

Howe: ‘ No.” 

Judge: ‘Those who have confessed told us 
they used images and pinns. Now tell us what you 
have used.”’ ! 

Howe: ‘You would not have me confess to 


The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 105 


that which I know not.” (Note: She then looked 
upon Mary Warren and said Mary Warren 
violently fell down.) The judge then said: 

‘Look upon this maid Mary Walcott,” her back 
being toward Goodwife Howe. Ann Putnam said 
she saw Elizabeth Howe upon Mary Walcott, and 
Susanna Sheldon said it was the same woman that 
carried her to the pond, and said the woman was 
now upon her grasping her by the arm. 

Judge: ‘You said you never heard of these 
people before?” 

Howe: “Not before the warrant served upon 
me last Sabbath day.” John Ingersoll cried out, 
‘Oh, she bites,” and fell into a grievous fit. 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these things?” 

Howe: “I am not able to give an account of 
ir 

Judge: “Could not you tell what gives these 
such fits?” 

Howe: “I could not tell. I know not what it 
is.’ 

Judge: “It is strange that you should do these 
things and not be able to tell them.” 


This is a true account of the examination of 
Elizabeth Howe taken from my characters written 
at the time thereof. Witness my hand — SAMUEL 
PARRIS. 


Timothy Pearley and his wife, Deborah Pear- 
ley, testified that there was some differences be- 


106 The Salem Witch Trials 


tween Goodwife Howe and them concerning some 
boards. ‘The night following our cows were let 
out and, finding them the next morning, we went 
to milk them. One of them did not give but two 
or three spoonsful of milk, and one of the other 
cows did not give but one-half a pint and the other 
gave about a quart, and these cows used to give 
from three to four quarts at a milking. Two of 
these cows continued to give little or nothing for 
four or five milkings, and yet they went in good 
English pasture. Within four days, the cows gave 
their full proportion of milk. 

“One day Elizabeth Howe came to our house 
and our daughter, Hannah Pearley, was scared. 
and said she saw the woman go into the oven and 
out again and then she flew into a dreadful fit. 
When we asked her what woman she meant, she 
told us she meant Elizabeth Howe and Goody 
Howe used to be so loving to our daughter, Han- 
nah Pearley. I saw them together and after 
Goody Howe was gone I asked my daughter why 
she was so loving to Goody Howe when they were 
together and she told me she was afraid to do 
otherwise or Goody Howe would kill her.” 

Samuel Pearley, aged fifty-two, said: ‘‘ We have 
a daughter ten years old and she was in a sorrow- 
ful condition after there was a falling out between 
James Howe and his wife. Our daughter told us 
that it was James Howe’s wife that afflicted her 
night and day. Sometimes she complained of be- 


The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 107 


ing pricked with pinns. Often she said: ‘I could 
never afflict a dog as Goody Howe afflicts me.’ My 
wife and I did often chide her for naming Goody 
Fiowe but our daughter would tell us that, though 
we would not believe her, yet we would know one 
day. 

“We went to some doctors and they told us 
she was under an evil hand. Our daughter told us 
that when she came near the fire or water the 
witches pulled her in and she was often sorely 
burned. She would tell us what clothes the witch 
wore and say, ‘Here she comes, there she goes, 
and now she is gone into the oven,’ and when she 
saw these sights she would fall down unto dreadful 
fits. Our daughter continued for about three years 
in this condition, saying that Goody Howe was the 
cause of her sorrow. And so she pined away to 
skin and bones and ended her sorrowful life. 

“When Goody Howe had a mind to join Ips- 
wich Church, they sent to us to have us bring up 
what we knew against her. When we declared 
what we knew, they put a stop to her getting into 
the church. Within a few days I had a cow which 
was taken with running around like mad and run 
into a great pond and drowned herself. As soon 
as she was dead, my sons and myself towed her 
to shore and she stunk so that we had much adoe to 
flea her,” 

Sam Phillips, age sixty-seven, the minister at 
Rowley, testified: ‘‘ Mr. Payson and myself went 


108 The Salem Witch Trials 


to Sam Pearley’s to see his daughter who was 
visited with strange fits and in her fits did mention 
Goody Howe. When we were in the house the 
child had one of her fits but made no mention of 
Goodwife Howe. Afterwards, she said, ‘ If I com- 
plained of Goodwife Howe, I knew it not’.” 

Simon Chapman, age forty-eight, said: ‘I have 
been acquainted with Goodwife Howe as a naybar 
for nine or ten years and I never saw any harm 
in her, but I found her just in her dealings and 
faithful to her promises. When she met with an 
affliction she praised God and said it was better 
than she deserved. I never heard her revile any 
person but she always pitied them and said ‘I pray 
God forgive them now.’”’ 

Isaac Cummings, age fifty, said: ‘“‘ Eight years 
ago James Howe came to my house to borrow a 
horse and I, not being at home, my son Isaac told 
him I had no horse to ride on but I had a mare 
which he thought I would be willing to lend upon 
a Thursday. The next day being Friday, myself 
and my wife did ride of this mare about one-half 
mile to a naybar’s house. When we came home, 
I turned the mare out. The next being Saturday, 
about sunrise the said mare stood by my door and 
I did apprehend she showed as if she had been 
much abused by riding, and her mouth was much 
abused and hurt with the bridle bit. I, seeing the 
mare in such a condition, did take her and put her 
in my barn and she would not eat or drink. I then 


The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 109 


sent for my brother Thomas who was living in 
Boxford. When he came, he told me he was giv- 
ing the mare something for bots. As I could see 
it did her no good he said he could not tell but she 
may have the balyach. 

“My brother Andros said, ‘I will take a pipe 
of tobacco and lite it and put it in the mouth of 
the mare.’ I told him that I thought it was not 
lawful. Then I took a clean pipe and filled it with 
tobacco and did lite it, and went with the pipe lit 
to the barn. Andros, my brother, did use the pipe 
as he said he would and the pipe of tobacco did 
blaze and burn blue. Then I said to my brother, 
“You should try no more,’ but he said he was going 
to try once more which he did. Then there arose 
a blaze from the pipe of tobacco which seemed to 
me to cover the whole of the said mare and a blaze 
went up toward the roof of the barn and in the 
barn there was a great crackling as if it would fall 
down and we had no other fire in the barn, but only 
a candle. Then I said my brother or the mare 
must go. 

‘The next day being the Lord’s day, I spoke to 
my brother to come and see the mare and he came 
and my neighbor John Hankins came to my house 
and he and I went into my barn to see the mare. 
Said Hankins said: ‘If I were you, I would cut 
off a piece of this mare and burn it.’ I said, ‘ No, 
not today,’ and then I said, ‘but if she live to the 
tomorrow morning I may cut off a piece of her and 


110 The Salem Witch Trials 


burn it.” Presently as we spoke these words, here 
stepped out of the barn the mare, fell down dade 
and never stirred.” . 

James Howe, father-in-law of Elizabeth Howe, 
testified: “‘I have been living by Goody Howe 
for about thirty years, and she has carried herself 
well as a daughter and as a wife. In all relations, 
she has been both careful and loving. She has been 
obedient, and considering I am blind she has gently 
led me by the hand.” 

John Howe, brother-in-law of Elizabeth Howe, 
said: ‘‘ The day my brother James’ wife was car- 
ried to Salem for examination she was to my house 
and would have me go with her to Salem. I told 
her if she had been sent for upon any other ac- 
count but Witchcraft I would have gone with her, 
but on that account I would not for ten pounds. 
But I told her ‘If you are a witch and will tell me 
how long you have been a witch and what you 
have done to them, then I will go with you.’ She 
seemed very angry with me but still asked me to 
come on the tomorrow. I told her I did not know 
but I might come on the tomorrow. When the 
morrow came, I was standing near my door talk- 
ing with one of my neighbors. I had a sow with 
six small pigs in the yard, and the sow was as well 
as I know her ever to be and she leaped up about 
three or four foot high and turned about and gave 
one squeak and fell down dade. I told my neigh- 
bor that was with me that I thought my sow was 


The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 111 


bewitched and he lafted at me, but it proved to be 
true for she fell down dade, and he bid me cut 
off one of her ears which I did and my hand in 
which I[ held the knife was numb and several days 
after that I could not do any work and I suspect no 
other person but my sister Elizabeth Howe.” 
Jacob Foster, age twenty-nine, testified: ‘‘Some 
years ago, Goodwife Howe was about to join the 
church at Ipswich. My father was instrumental 
in her being denied admission. Shortly after my 
mare was turned out to grass and on Thursday I 
went to seek her to go to lecture and I could not — 
find her. I sought all Thursday and found her 
not until Saturday when I found her standing lean- 
ing against a tree. I hit her with a small whip. 
She gave a heave from the tree and then fell back 
to the treeagain. Then I struck her again, and she 
did the same again. I set my shoulder to her side 
and moved her from the tree and moved her on. 
Then she went home and leaped into the pasture 
and she looked as she had pined and fasted.” 
Toseph Stafford, age sixty, said: “* My wife had 
much trouble with Elizabeth Howe because of the 
things that were about her, but one day Elizabeth 
Howe came to my house and she asked our chil- 
dren where their mother was and they said she was 
at the next neighbor’s house and she desired them 
to call their mother which they did. Afterwards 
my wife told me she was startled to see Goody 
Howe when she came home but she took her by the 


112 The Salem Witch Trials 


hand and said: ‘Goody Stafford, I believe you are 
not ignorant of the great scandal that I live under.’ 
After that, my wife was taken beyond reason to 
take the part of this woman. Then Goodwife 
Howe purposed herself to come into the church, 
whereupon some objections arose by some unsatis- 
fied brotheres. There was a committee appointed 
by the leaders of the church to consider the things 
brought in against her. My wife was more than 
ordinarily in earnest to go to lecture at the church 
meeting being held on that day notwithstanding 
the many arguments I used to persuade her to the 
contrary, yet I obtained a promise from her that 
she would not go to the church meeting; but some 
of the neighbors persuaded her to go to the church 
meeting at Elder Payne’s and they afterwards told 
me that my wife took Goodwife Howe by the hand 
and told her that though she were contaminated in 
the sight of men she was justified in the sight of 
God. 

"The next Saturday after this my son that car- 
ried my wife to lecture was taken after a strange 
manner, and the Saturday following that my wife 
was taken with a raving frenzie expressing in a 
raging manner that Goody Howe must come into 
the church and that she was a perishing saint and 
that she were contaminated before man but justi- 
fied before God, and she continued in this manner 
for a length of three or four hours. After that, 
my wife fell into a kind of trance for two or three 


The Trial of Elizabeth Howe 113 


minutes. ‘Then she came to herself, opened her 
eyes and said: ‘I was mistaken because I thought 
Goody Howe was a perishing saint of God but now 
I know she is a witch, for she has bewitched me and 
my children and we shall never be well.’ A few 
days after that she said the cause of her changing 
her opinion concerning Goody Howe was because 
she appeared to her through a crevice of the clap- 
boards which she knew no good person could do. 

‘ Rising early to kindle a fire in the other room, 
my wife shrieked out. I ran into the room where 
my wife was and as soon as I opened the door she 
said, ‘ There are evil ones.’ Whereupon I replied: 
‘Where are they?’ Then she sprang out of bed 
herself and went to the window and said, ‘There 
they went out.’ She said they were both bigger 
than she and went out the window but she could 
not go out after. I replied: ‘Who were they?’ 
and she said, ‘Goody Howe and Goody Oliver.’ I 
said, ‘You never saw Goody Oliver in your life,’ 
but she said, ‘I never saw her in my life but she is 
represented to me as Goody Oliver of Salem that 
hurt William Stacey of Salem.’”’ 


CHAPTER XII 
THE TRIAL OF SUSANNA MARTIN 
Gueeae MARTIN of Amesbury was about 


seventy-two years old when she was arrested 
on the second day of May, 1692, charged with 
bewitching Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, Ann 
Putnam, and Mercy Lewis. She was immediately 
taken to the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll, where a 
preliminary examination was held before Judges 
Hathorne and Corwin. She was afterwards tried 
on June twenty-eighth and hung on July nineteenth. 
She had a daughter, Mable Martin, whom Whit- 
tier described as being very beautiful. 


The following occurred at her preliminary ex- 
amination, the same having been taken down by 


Judge Hathorne: 


(Note: As soon as Susanna Martin came in 
many had fits. ) 

Judge: ‘Do you know this woman ?”’ 

Abigail Williams: ‘It is Goody Martin. She 
has often hurt me. (Note: Many by fits were 
hindered from speaking. John Indian being pres- 
ent said he did not know her. Mercy Lewis pointed 
at her and fell into a fit. Ann Putnam threw her 
glove at her in a fit; then Susanna Martin 
laughed. ) 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you laugh at?” 

114 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 115 


Martin: ‘Well I may at such folly. I never 
hurt this woman or her child.” (Mercy Lewis 
here cried out “She hurts me and she pulls me 
down,” then Susanna Martin laughed again. Mary 
Walcott and Susanna Sheldon then both accused 
her of afflicting them.) 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to this?” 


Martin: ‘I have no hand in witchcraft.’ 
Judge: ‘“* What ails these people?” 
Martin: ‘I do not know.” 


Judge: ‘‘ What do you think?” 

Martin: ‘I do not desire to speak my judg- 
ment upon it.” 

Judge: “Do you think they are bewitched ?”’ 

Martin: ‘‘ No, I do not think they are.” 

Judge: “Tell me your thoughts about them.” 

Martin: ‘‘ My thoughts are my own when they 
are in, but when they are out they are another’s.”’ 

Judge: ‘How come it your appearance hurts 
these?” 

Martin: “Ido not know!” 

Judge: ‘Are you willing to tell the truth?” 

Martin ey eS a8 

Judge: ‘‘Do you believe these do not say the 
truth?” 

Martin: ‘‘ They may lye for all I know.” 

Judge: ‘‘ May not you lye?” 

Martin: ‘I dare not tell a lye if it would save 
my life.” (Note: Elizabeth Hubbard was here 
afflicted, and then the marshall who was by her 


116 The Salem Witch Trials 


side said she opened her hand and the afflicted cried 
out that they saw her upon the beam.) 

Judge: ‘‘God will discover you if you be 
guilty.” 

Martin: ‘* Amen, amen, a false word will never 
make a guilty person.” (Note: Mercy Lewis 
cried out: ‘‘ You have been a good time coming 
to the court today. You can come fast enough at 
night.” ) 

Martin: “No, sweetheart,” said Goody Mar- 
tin, then Mercy Lewis and all the rest fell down 
afflicted and John Indian fell into a violent fit and 
cried: “She bites, she bites,” and just then the 
defendant was biting her lips. 

Judge: “Have you no compassion upon these 
afflicted?” 

Martin: ‘No, I have none.” (Note: Here 
some cried out that there was a black man with the 
defendant and Goody Bibber rose up against her. 
‘Then Abigail Williams tried to come near her but 
could not. Neither could Goody Bibber nor Mary 
Walcott and John Indian cried out aloud that he 
would kill her if he came near her, but he was 
felled down when he tried to approach her.) 

Judge: “‘ Whatis the reason these cannot come 
near you?” 

Martin: “I cannot tell.” 

Judge: ‘‘Do you not see how God discovers 
your” 

Martin: ‘No, nota bit.” 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 117 


Judge: ‘All the congregation say so.”’ 

Martin: ‘Let them think what they will.” 

Judge: ‘ What is the reason these cannot come 
near you?” 

Martin: ‘I do not know but they can if they 
will, or else if you please I will come to them.” 

Judge: “What is that black man whispering 
to you?” 

Martin: “There is none whispering to me.” 


The trial before the jury began on the twenty- 
eighth day of June. The evidence taken at the pre- 
liminary examination was read to the jury and all 
the accusing witnesses were present inthe court. In 
addition to this the following persons testified: 

William Brown, age seventy, said: ‘Thirty 
years ago my wife, Elizabeth, who is a very 
rational woman and sober and fears God met 
Susanna Martin near the Salisbury Mill. Just as 
they met, Susanna Martin vanished, which very 
much frightened my wife Elizabeth. After that, 
Susanna Martin many times met my wife at her 
house and my wife was much troubled until about 
February following when she came to our house 
and my wite said that her coming was like birds 
pecking her leggs or picking her with the motion of 
their wings and that it would rise up into her 
stomach like a pricking payn as nayls and pinns of 
which she did bitterly complain and cry out, and 
that it would rise up in her throat like a pullet’s 


118 The Salem Witch Trials 


egg and that she would turn back her head and 
say, ‘Witch, you shan’t choke me.’ 

“In the time of this extremity the church ap- 
pointed a day of humility to seek God in her behalf 
and thereupon her trouble ceased and she saw 
Goody Martin no more for a considerable time and 
she came to the meeting and went about her busi- 
ness as before. This continued until about April 
following at which time summonses were sent to 
my wife and Goodwife Osgood by the court to 
give their evidence concerning the said Martin, 
after which my wife told me that as she was 
milking her cow the said Susanna Martin came 
behind her and said to her that she would make 
her to be the most miserable creature for defaming 
her name at the court. And about two months 
after that when coming home from Hampton my 
wife would not own me but said we were devorst 
and asked me whether I did not meet Mr. Bent of 
Abbey in England about whom we was devorst and 
from that time to this very day my wife has been 
under a strange kind of distemper capable of no 
kind of rational action. I got two doctors to come 
and see her for her distemper and to give her relief 
but they did both say that her distemper was 
supernatural and no sickness of the body but that 
some evil person had bewitched her.” 

John Pressey, age fifty-three, testified: ‘About 
two years ago I was at Amesbury Ferry upon a 
Saturday evening and, as I was coming along the 


The Trial of Susanna Martin BED 


field of George Martin and by a mill called 
Goodals I was bewildered and lost my way and, 
having wandered awhile, I came back to the same 
place which I knew by a stooping tree. Then I set 
out again and steered by the moon which shone 
brite but was again lost and came back to the 
same place. I then set out the third time in a 
like manner and was bewildered and came back but 
not so far as before and I knew where I was and 
in less than one-half a mile coming along I saw a 
light standing on my left hand about two rods out 
of the way. The bigness of it seemed to be 
about a half a bushel but I kept on and left 
it and in a matter of seven or eight rods going 
it appeared again in the near distance as before; 
and so it did the third time but I passed on the 
way. 

‘‘And in less than twenty rods going I saw an- 
other light in my way and, having a stick in my 
hand, I endeavored to stir the light out of the 
place and gave it some smart blows with the stick. 
The light seemed to brush up and move from side 
to side as a turkey cock when it stretches its tayle 
but went out of the place. Which perceiving, I 
laid it on with my stick with all my might and 
gave it at least forty blows and so was agoing 
away and leave it, but as I was going my heels were 
struck up and I laid on my bak on the ground and 
was sliding down into a deep place so it seemed to 
me but taking hold of some brush recovered myself 


120 The Salem Witch Trials 


and, having lost my coat which I had upon my arm, 
went back to the light and saw my coat and took 
it up and went home without any more disturbance. 
Yet, I do not know any such pit to be in the place 
where I was sliding into and when I struck the 
light I certainly did feel a substance with the stick 
and when I had gone about five or six rods I saw 
Susanna Martin, then wife of George Martin, 
standing on my left side as the light had done. 
There she stood and looked upon me and turned 
her face after me as I went along, but said nothing. 
I then went home but was so seized with fear that 
I could not speak ’till my wife spoke to me at the 
door and I was in a condition that my family was 
afraidofme. This story, being carried to the town 
the next day, did excite them for Goodwife Martin 
was in such a miserable way and in such pain that 
they swabbed her body. 

‘“Some years after that, Susanna Martin came 
and reviled me and my wife with some foul words 
saying that we had taken a fool’s oath and that we 
should never prosper for so doing. She said that 
we would never have but two cows and from that 
day to this we have never exceeded that number for 
something or other has prevented it although we 
have tried all ordinary means for obtaining more 
by hiring cows of others and this for the space of 
twenty years.”’ 

Bernard Peach, age forty-three, testified: 
‘‘About six or seven years ago, I was living at the 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 121 


house of Jacob Morall in Salisbury and, being in 
bed on the Lord’s day night, I heard a scrabbling 
at the window and I saw Susanna Martin, wife of 
George Martin, come in at the window and jump 
down to the floor. She was in her whood and scarf 
and the same dress that she was in before at meting 
the same day. Being come in, she was coming 
toward my face but turned back to my feet and 
took hold of them and drew my body into a whoope 
and lay upon me about an hour and one-half or 
two hours all of which time I could not stir nor 
speak but striving to put my hand among the 
clothes I took hold of her hand and brought it up 
to my mouth and bit three of her fingers. 

‘After which the said Susanna Martin went out 
of the chamber, down the stayres and out of the 
door and as soon as she was away I called the 
people of the house and told them what was done 
and told them the said Martin was now out of the 
door but the people did not see her as they said. 
Without the door there was a bucket on the left 
side and there was a drop of blood on the handle 
and two more upon the snow, for there was a little 
flight of snow, and there were the prints of her two 
feet about a foot within the threshold but no more 
footing did appear. 

‘Sometime after this, about three weeks, the 
said Martin desired me to come and husk corn at 
her house the next Lord’s day night and she said 
if I did not come it were better that I did but I 


122 The Salem Witch Trials 


did not go being then living with Mr. Osgood of 
Salisbury. 

‘That night I lodged in the barn upon the hay 
and about an hour or two in the night the said 
Susanna Martin and another came out of the shop 
into the barn and one of them said, ‘ Here he is,’ 
and then came toward me. I having a quarter staff, 
made a blow at them but the roof of the barn pre- 
vented it and they went away and I followed them 
and, as they were going out of the window, made 
another blow and struck them both down, but away 
they went out of the shop window and I saw no 
more of them. The rumor was that the said Mar- 
tin had a broken hand at the time, but I cannot 
speak to that upon my own knowledge.” 

Jarvis Ring testified: ‘About seven or eight 
years ago, I had been several times afflicted in the 
night by somebody or something coming upon me 
while I was in bed and I could never move nor 
speak while it was upon me but sometimes made a 
kind of noise so that folks did hear me and come to 
me. As soon as anybody came it would be gone. 
This it did for a long time before and since but 
I never did see anybody clearly. But one time in 
the night it came upon me and as at other times I 
did see the person of Susanna Martin and she came 
and took me by the hand and they came and lay 
upon me fora while. After a while she went away. 
And the mark where she bit me is still to be seen on 
the little finger of my right hand for it was hard 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 123 


to heal. Several times when I was asleep it came 
but when it bit my finger I was as awake as ever I 
was and I plainly saw her shape and felt her 
breath.” 

Joseph Ring, age twenty-seven, testified: ‘‘About 
last September I[ was in the woods with my brother 
Jarvis hewing timber and my brother went home 
and left me alone to finish the hewing. As soon as 
my brother was gone there came to me the appari- 
tion of Thomas Hardy and by force of some im- 
pulse I was compelled to follow him to the house 
of Tucker which was deserted and which was about 
one-half mile from the place I was at and in that 
house I did see Susanna Martin and other forms 
that I did not know and they ate at a fire and drank. 
Susanna Martin was then in her natural shape and 
talking as she used to do but toward the morning 
she went from the fire and made a noise and turned 
into the shape of a black hogg and went away and 
so did the other two persons go away and I was 
strangely carried away also and the first place I 
knew was about Sam Wood's house in Amesbury. 

‘In the month of June next I met with Thomas 
Hardy and a couple of other creatures who were 
with him and the said Hardy demanded of me two 
shillings and with that dreadful noise and hideous 
shapes of those creatures and the fire ball I was 
almost frightened out of my wits. In about one- 
half hour they all left me and I came to the 
Hampton home. About ten days after I came 


124 The Salem Witch Trials 


from Boston and was overtaken by a couple of 
people on horseback who passed me and after they 
were passed, Thomas Hardy turned round his 
horse and came back with his horse in his hand and 
desired me to go to Mrs. Weth’s and drink with 
him which, being refused, he turned away to the 
couple and they all came up together so fast that 
it seemed impossible to escape being tread down 
by them, but they all went pass and appeared no 
more. 

‘‘About October following coming from Hamp- 
ton a couple of horses with men and women on 
them overtook me and the said Hardy being one 
of them as before came to me and demanded two 
shillings and threatened to tear me to pieces. Then 
they went away and left me; and I had diverse 
strange appearances and they did force me away 
with them into unknown places and I saw meetings 
and feastings and many strange sights and from 
August last I was dumb and could not speak till 
this last April.” 

John Kimball, age forty-five, testified: ‘About 
twenty-three years ago when I was about to remove 
from Newbury and I bought a piece of land from 
George Martin for which I was to pay him in 
cash or notes upon a certain day in March and 
when the day of payment was come Martin and his 
wife came for the pay and I offered them their 
choice of two cows and their choice of other cattle 
but did reserve two cows which I was not desirous 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 125 


to part with they being the first I ever had and 
Martin himself was satisfied but Susanna, his wife, 
notwithstanding that we would not pay with those 
two cows, said: ‘You had better, for those will 
never do you no good.’ And so it came to pass 
that the next April following that very cow lay in 
the fair dry yard with her head to her side but 
starc dead; and a little while after another cow 
died and then an ox and then other cattle to the 
value of thirty pounds. 

‘The same year, after I came to live at Ames- 
bury I was needed to get a dog and, hearing the 
wife of George Martin had a bich which had 
whelps, I went to her to get one but she, not letting 
me have my choice, did not absolutely agree to buy 
having heard Mr. Blesedell had one to supply me. 
George Martin came by and asked me whether I 
would not have one of his wife’s whelps and I 
replied in the negative. Then Edmond Elliot said 
that on that day he heard Susanna Martin ask 
Martin why I was not going to take one of her 
pups and when he told her she said, ‘If I live, I'll 
give the puppies fever.’ 

‘Within a few days after this when coming from 
the woods presently there did arise a little black 
cloud and a few drops of rain fell and the wind 
blew cold in coming between the house of John 
Woods and the meeting house and I come upon sey- 
eral stumps of trees by the wayside and I could give 
no reason for it but I tumbled over the stumps one 


126 The Salem Witch Trials 


after another and, though having an extra ax upon 
my shoulder which put me in danger, I resolved to 
view those places again and when I[ came a little 
below the meeting house there appeared a little in 
ahead a puppy of a darkish color. I being free 
from all fear, used all possible efforts to cut it with 
my ax but could not hurt it and when I was belabor- 
ing it with my ax the puppy seemed to give a little 
jump and seemed to go into the ground. Going a 
little farther, there appeared a black puppy some- 
what bigger than the other one but as black as a 
coal and it came against me with such force and 
violence, and it did assault me as if it would tear 
out my throat. I was without fear, but at last I felt 
my heart to fall and sink under it and thought my 
life was going out but I recovered myself and gave 
a start up and run to the fence and called upon God 
in the name of Jesus Christ and then it went away 
and I made it known to nobody for fear of fretting 
my wife. 

‘The next morning Mr. Elliot said that going 
toward the house of said Martin to look at his oxen 
he went in to light his pipe and the said Susanna 
Martin asked him where he was and she said they 
saw I was frightened last night and Elliot replied 
that he had heard nothing of it, and asked where 
she had heard of it. She said about the town which 
story said Elliot having told him was all the town 
over when I came home at night after having been 
alone in the woods all day.” 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 127 


Bernard Veach, age forty-two, testified: ‘“About 
ten years ago I was living with William Osgood of 
Dalsotieven wc. Use Creole \Vlartinisanicvand 
desired some of their beef but they did not give 
him any and he went away discontented and the 
next day one of the best cows Mr. Osgood had was 
in such a fright that two men had much to do to 
get her into the shed and she was tied up she did 
run and throw about so. The next day it being all 
out of her she did go away with the other cattle 
but came home at evening very ill having sores un- 
der her eyes as big as walnuts and dyed the same 
night.” 

James Knight, age forty, testified: “In 1686 
when I was going out into the woods to fetch the 
horses I met Susanna Martin who had a little dog 
running about her side and she took up the dog 
under her arm but coming nearer to her she had a 
keg under the same arm. I then looked her in the 
face and told her that her keg was a little dog. 
Just then, I found the horses had brought me to a 
causeway and I could not get them over; but, there 
being a small knoll of land near our horses run 
around about it the greatest part of that day. At 
length there came a little man with a yoke of oxen 
to go over the causeway who, with some difficulty, 
got over and at last, although I was greatly 
frightened, I got our horses over.”’ 

Robert Downer, age fifty-two, testified: ‘“Sev- 
eral years ago Susanna Martin was brought to 


128 The Salem Witch Trials 


court for a witch. Having some words with her, 
I told her that I believed she was a witch; that I 
would witness against her. She seemed affected 
and said that a she-devil would fetch me away 
shortly but I was not much moved. At night, as I 
lay in bed in my own house, there came to my 
window the likeness of a cat and it took fast hold 
of my throat and laid hold upon me a considerable 
while and that likeness did throttle me. At length 
I did remember that Susanna Martin had fright- 
ened me only the day before and I said: ‘Avoid 
thou the devil in the name of the Father and Son’ 
and the likeness did let me go and flunked down 
upon the floor and went out of the window again. 
Before I had said anything about it, some of the 
family asked me about it.”’ 

Samuel Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll and Thomas 
Putnam all testified that they were present at the 
preliminary examination of Susanna Martin and 
they saw how the girls were afflicted and tortured 
and whenever the said Susanna Martin bit her lips 
all of these were bitten, afflicted, and knocked 
down. 

Elizabeth Hubbard, Mercy Lewis, Sarah 
Bibber, and Ann Putnam all testified that they had 
been pinched, bitten, and knocked down on many 
occasions by the said Susanna Martin. 

John Alkinson, age fifty-six years, testified: 
‘About five years ago one of the sons of Susanna 
Martin exchanged a cow of his with me for a cow 


The Trial of Susanna Martin 129 


which I bought of Mr. Wells, the minister, which 
cow I took from Mr. Wells’ house. 

‘About a week after I went to the house of 
Susanna Martin to receive the cow of the latter and 
notwithstanding the homstringing and halting of 
her she was so mad that we could scarce get her 
‘but she broke all ropes fastened to her and we 
put the rope two or three times around a tree but 
she broke it and ran away and when she came 
down to the ferry we were forced to run up to our 
arms in water she was so fierce but after much 
adieu we got her into the boat and she was so tame 
as any creature whatever. And Susanna Martin 
muttered and was angry that I should have this 
cow.” 

Sarah Atkinson, age forty-eight, testified: ‘‘In 
the spring of the year about eighteen years since, 
Susanna Martin came to our house at Newberry in 
an extraordinary dirty season when it was not fit 
for any person to travel. She often came on foot 
and so when she came into our house I asked her 
whether she came from Amesbury on foot and she 
said she did. I asked her how she could come this 
time afoot and bid my children to make way for 
her to come to the fire to dry herself. She replied 
that she was as dry as I was and turned her coat 
to one side and I could not perceive that the soles 
of her shoes were wet. I was startled at it that 
she came so far and so dry and told her that I 
should have been wet if I had come so far on foot. 


130 The Salem Witch Trials 


She replied that she scorned to have a drabbled 
tayle.”’ 

Whittier’s poem Mabel Martin tells the story of 
the witch’s daughter and of the curse under which 
she suffered by reason of her mother’s having been 
hung on the gallows tree. ‘The story has to do 
with Mabel’s courtship and marriage to Ezek 
Hardin, notwithstanding the scorn and _ insults 


of all: 


The seasons scarce had gone their round, 
Since curious thousands thronged to see 
Her mother at the gallows tree. 


The school boys jeered her as they passed, 
And when she sought the house of prayer 
Her mother’s curse pursued her there. 


I dare not breathe my mother’s name, 
A daughter’s right I dare not crave 
To weep above her unblest grave! 


Let me not live until my heart, 
With few to pity and with none 
To love me, hardens into stone. 


CHAPTER XIII 
THE TRIAL OF REBECCA NURSE 


NE of the saddest of the Witchcraft trials was 
' that of Rebecca Nurse. There had been much 
litigation between the Nurse and Putnam families 
over the title to some land. Early in 1692 Mrs. 
Nurse, then seventy-one years of age, and her two 
sisters, Mary Esty, fifty-eight, and Sarah Cloyse, 
fifty-five, were charged with being witches. Their 
principal accusers were [Thomas and John Putnam. 
The sisters were all members of the First Church. 
While Mrs. Nurse was locked in the Salem jail, a 
jury of women was appointed to examine her. 
They reported they found “Certain unnatural 
marks,” upon her body. ‘The jury found her not 
guilty. Immediately the spectators crowded about 
the judge and demanded a verdict of guilty. The 
jury retired to its room and came back with a ver- 
dict of guilty. The judge immediately sentenced 
her to be hung on July nineteenth. After her sen- 
tence, the governor, sure of her innocence, par- 
doned her; then the crowd surrounded the goy- 
ernor’s house and threatened him. Whereupon 
he revoked the pardon and she was hung on July 
nineteenth. She was a woman of irreproachable 
character, possessing all of the finest Christian 
virtues. | 
After her execution her body was secretly thrown 
131 


132 The Salem Witch Trials 


into the crevices of the rocks on Witch Hill and 
was recovered by her sons the next night. 

With her sisters, she was excommunicated 
from the church after her conviction. 

She now lies buried in the old family lot in the 
center of a grove of waving pines. A few years 
ago a beautiful monument was erected on this 
spot, in memory of her. John G. Whittier was 
asked to write an appropriate inscription for it 
and wrote: 

A Christian martyr, who for truth could die, 
When all about thee owned the hideous lie. 
The world redeemed, from superstition’s sway, 
Is breathing freer for thy sake today. 

She was charged with bewitching Ann Putnam, 
Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Abigail 
Williams. Her preliminary examination was held 
before Judges Hathorne and Corwin on March 24, 
1692. The evidence was taken down by Judge 
Hathorne and was certified as follows: 

The prisoner was heavily bound in chains. 

Judge Hathorne, addressing one of the girls: 
“What do you say? Is this woman hurting you?” 

‘Yes, she bit me this morning.” 

Judge: “Abigail Williams, have you been hurt 
by this woman?” 

“Yes.”’ (Ann Putnam here cried out that she 
was hurt.) 

Judge: “Goody Nurse, what do you say?” 

Nurse: ‘I can say before my Heavenly Father 


The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 133 


I am innocent and God will clear me.” (Note: 
Then Hen Kenny rose up to speak.) 
Judge: ‘Goodman Kenny, what do you say?” 


Then he said that since this Nurse came into the 
house he was seized with an amazed condition. 

Judge: ‘Here are not only these, but there is 
the wife of Mr. Thomas Putnam, who accuse 
you.” 

Nurse: “I am innocent and clear and have not 
been able to go out of doors for eight or nine 
days.” 

Judge: ‘‘Mr. Putnam, give in what you have 
to say.’ (Note: Then Edward Putnam gave in 
his relate.) 

Judge: “Are you an innocent person relating 
to this witchcraft?”? (Note: Here Thomas Put- 
nam cried out, ‘“ Did you not bring the black man 
with you?”’) 

Nurse: “Oh, Lord! help me.” And then she 
spread out her hands and all the afflicted were 
greatly vexed. 

Judge: “Do you see what a condition these are 
in when your hands are loose? The persons are 
afflicted.” 

Nurse: ‘‘ The Lord knows I have not hurt them. 
I am an innocent person.” 

Judge: ‘“‘Itis fearful for all to see these things, 
and you, an old person contracting with the devil, 
and yet to see you standing there with dry eyes 
when there are so many wet ones. You would do 


134 The Salem Witch Trials 


well if you are guilty to confess and give glory to 
God.” 

Nurse: ‘lamas clear as the child unborn.”’ 

Judge: “‘ How come you are sick?” 

Nurse: “Iam sick to my stomach.” 

Judge: “‘ Have you any reasons?” 

Nurse: ‘I know naught but old age.” 

Judge: “These testify they see a black man 
whispering in your ear and appearing about you.” 

Nurse: “It.is all falsei? 

Judge: ‘‘ Why do you never visit these afflicted 
people?”’ 

Nurse: ‘Because I was afraid I should have 
fits too.” 

(Note: Upon the motion of her hands the af- 
flicted were seized with fits. ) 

Judge: “Is it not a fact that when you are exer- 
cised these persons are afflicted?” 

Nurse: ‘I have nobody to look to but God.” 
(Note: Again upon stirring her hands the af- 
flicted persons were seized with violent fits of tor- 
ture. ) 

Judge: “Do you think these afflicted persons 
are bewitched ?”’ 

Nurse: “I do think they are.” (Note: Sam 
Parris then read what he had taken from Thomas 
Putnam’s wife in her fits.) 

Judge: ‘What do you think of this ?”’ 

Nurse: ‘I cannot help it. The devil may ap- 
pear in my shape.”’ 


The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 135 


“This is a true account of the summary or pre- 
liminary examination, but by reason of great noyses 
by the afflicted many fits are pretermitted. Nurse 
held her neck on one side and Elizabeth Hubbard 
had her neck set in that posture whereupon Abigail 
Williams set up Goody Nurse’s head or her neck 
would be broken when Aaron Wey observed that 
Elizabeth Hubbard was immediately right. : 

Reverend Sam Parris being desired to take 
the examination of Rebecca Nurse as given. Upon 
hearing the aforesaid and seeing what we then did 
see together with a large number of persons we 
committed Rebecca Nurse, wife of Goodman 
Nurse of Salem, to the goale at Salem as per a mit- 
timus then given out.”’ 

JONATHAN CORWIN 
JOHN HATHORNE 


Ann Putnam testified: ‘I saw the apparition of 
Goody Nurse, and she did afflict me, but I did not 
know what her name was then. I know where 
she used to sit in our meetings house, but since then 
she has grievously afflicted me by biting, pinching, 
and striking me and urging me to write in her book, 
and several times since I saw the person of Re- 
becca Nurse come and hurt Mercy Lewis, Mary 
Walcott, and Abigail Williams.” 

Mary Walcott testified, ‘I saw the apparition 
of Rebecca Nurse, wife of Francis Nurse, but she 
did not hurt me until the twenty-fourth of March 
being the date of her examination, but then her ap- 
parition did most grievously torment me during the 
times of her examination and also several times 


136 The Salem Witch Trials 


since then. She has most grievously afflicted me 
by biting, pinching, and likewise chokingme, urging 
me to write in her book and saying she would kill 
me. On the evening of May third she told me she 
had a hand in the death of Benjamin Hallon, John 
Harrold, and Rebecca Shepard and several others. 
I saw her hurt the bodies of Abigail Williams, Ann 
Putnam, Mercy Lewis, and Elizabeth Hubbard.” 

Elizabeth Hubbard testified: ‘‘I saw the ap- 
parition of Rebecca Nurse and she did not hurt me 
until the twenty-fourth of March when she was ex- 
amined. Then she did but look upon me, and she 
stroke me down and almost choked me and several 
times since she has most grievously afflicted me by 
pinching and almost choking me and urging me to 
write in her book.” 

Abigail Williams testified: ‘‘ Many times in the 
month of March last past I have been exceedingly 
perplexed with the apparition of Rebecca Nurse, 
by which I have been badly afflicted and often 
pincht and almost choked and tempted sometimes 
to leap into the fire and sometimes to subscribe in 
the book which the apparition brought. I saw the 
apparition at the sacrament sitting next to George 
Burroughs, the man with the high crowned hat, at 
the far end of the table, and it confessed several 
times to me that she is guilty of committing several 
murders together with her sister Goody Cloyse 
upon old Goodman Heywood, Benjamin Hallon, 
and Rebecca Shepard.” 


The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 137 


Sara Vibber testified: “ I saw the apparition of 
Rebecca Nurse most grievously torture and afflict 
the bodies of Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and 
Abigail Williams, by pinching and almost choking 
them to death, but I did not know that she hurt me 
until the twenty-seventh of March, 1692, and then 
she did most grievously torment me by pinching and 
almost choking me.” 

Samuel Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll, and Thomas 
Putnam all signed a written affidavit which was 
read and which was as follows: 

‘Ann Putnam, Mary Walcott, and Abigail Wil- 
liams were several times grievously tortured at the 
trial of Rebecca Nurse before the Honorable 
Magistrates on the twenty-fourth of March, and 
when she appeared with her hands at liberty, some 
of the afflicted were pincht, and at the motion of 
her hands and fingers some of them were tortured, 
and some of the afflicted then and there afirmed 
that they saw a black man whispering in her ear, 
and birds fluttering by her. On the eighteenth of 
June we were at the house of Jonathan Putnam 
who was very ill and after awhile Mercy Lewis 
came into the house and was presently struck dumb, 
but being told to hold up her hand, if she saw any 
of the bewitched afilicting Jonathan Putnam 
whereupon she presently lifted up her hand, and 
she fell into a torture, and when said Mercy Lewis 
came to herself she said she saw Goody Nurse and 
Goody Carrier holding said Jonathan’s head.” 


138 The Salem Witch Trials 


Jonathan Childen testified: ‘‘ The apparition 
of Goody Nurse and Goodman Harwood did ap- 
pear to me, and the said Harwood did look Goody 
Nurse in the face and say to her that she did mur- 
der him by striking the breath out of his body.” 

Edward Putnam testified: ‘On the twenty- 
fifth day of March Ann Putnam Senior, was bitten 
by Rebecca Nurse, and about two o’clock of the 
same day Ann Putnam was struck with Goody 
Nurse’s chanes, the mark being in a kind of a 
round ring and three straight streaks across the 
ring. She had six blows with a chane inside of 
one-half an ower, and she had one remarkable, 
one with six strakes across one arm. I saw the 
mark of both the bite and chane.”’ 

Sarah Holton testified: ‘About this time three 
years past my deare and living husband Benjamin 
Holton was as well as I ever knew him in my life 
until one Saturday morning Rebecca Nurse, who 
now stands charged with witchcraft, came to our 
house and fell a railing at him because our piggs 
got into her fields, though the piggs were yoaked 
and more were down in their fields, from all we 
could see, but she continued railing and scolding 
a great while and began calling to her son, Ben- 
jamin Nurse, to go and git a gun and kill our piggs, 
and yet none of them got out of the field, and my 
poor husband gave her never a misbeholding word, 
and in a short time after this my poor husband 
going out in the morning as he was coming in again 


The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 139 


was taken with a strange fitt, being struck blind a 
while and struck down two or three times, so that 
when he came to himself he told me he thought he 
would do nothing any more, and all summer after 
he continued in a languishing condition, being much 
payned at the stomach, and was struck blind for 
about a fortnight and was taken with a strange and 
violent fit when we thought he would have died, 
and the doctor that was with him could not find 
what his distemper was, and he was again very 
cheerly, but by midnite he was again most violently 
sesed upon with a violent fit until the next night 
about midnite he departed this life by a cruel 
death.” 

Ann Putnam, wife of Thomas Putnam, testified: 
‘On the first day of June, 1692, the apparition of 
Rebecca Nurse did fall on me and almost choke 
me, and she did tell me that now she was come out 
of prison she would follow me all day long, and 
would kill me if she could, just as she had killed the 
others, and she also told me that she and her sister 
Goody Cloyse and Edward Bishop had killed 
young John Putnam’s children because young John 
Putnam had said they were witches as their mother 
was before them, and because they could not avenge 
themselves on him, they killed his children, and 
immediately there did apear to me these children 
in winding sheets which called me Aunt, which did 
most grievously fright me and they told me they 
were my sister’s children and that Goody Nurse 


140 The Salem Witch Trials 


and Mistress Carrier and an old thin woman at 
Boston had murdered them and charged me to go 
and tell this thing to the magistrates or they would 
tear me to pieces, for they did cry for vengence. 
Also there did appear to me my own sister Bayley 
and three of her children in winding sheets and told 
me that Goody Nurse had murdered them.” 

John Putnam and Hannah Putnam testified in 
writing: ‘‘Our child who died about the middle of 
April, 1692, was as well and thriving a child as 
any ‘till it was about eight years old, but a little 
while after that then I, John Putnam, reported 
some things which I had concarning the mother of 
Rebecca Nurse, Mary Esty, and Sarah Cloyse, and 
I myself was taken with a strange kind of fits but 
was delivered from them, and shortly after this 
our poor young child was taken about midnight 
with strange and violent fits which did most griev- 
ously affright us, whereupon we sent for our mother 
Putnam in the mght. Immediately, as soon as she 
came and see our child, she told us that she feared 
there was an evil hand upon it, and also as fast as 
possible could be, we got a docktor to it but all 
he did gave it no relief, and did it no good, but it 
continued in strange and violent fits for about two 
days and two nights and then departed this life by 
a cruel and violent death, enough to break a stony 
heart, for to the best of our understanding it was 
over five hours a dying. 

‘And we also testify that on the twenty-fourth 


The Trial of Rebecca Nurse 141 


of March at the judges’ examination of said Goody 
Nurse we often saw the said Ann Putnam, Abigail 
Williams, and Elizabeth Hubbard struck down 
upon the closing of said Nurse’s eye upon said Abi- 
gail Williams, Ann Putnam, and Elizabeth Hub- 
bard and the said Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, 
and Elizabeth Hubbard were then afflicted accord- 
ing to the motions of said Nurse’s body. At the 
time of the examination when said Nurse did 
clinch her hands, bite her lips, or hold her head 
aside Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard were set 
in the same posture, and to their great torture and 
affliction.” 

John Tarbell testified: ‘On the twenty-eighth 
day of March I was at the house of Thomas Put- 
nam and discoursed of many things, and I asked 
them this question: ‘Whether the girls that was 
afflicted did first speak of Goody Nurse before 
others mentioned her,’ and they said she told them 
she saw the apparition of a woman that sat in her 
grandmother’s seat, but did not know her name, 
and I replied and said, *‘ But who told her it was 
Goody Nurse?’ Mercy Lewis said it ‘was Goody 
Putnam that said it was Goody Nurse.’ Goody 
Putnam said it was Mercy Lewis that said it was 
Goody Nurse, and they turned it upon one another 
saying it was you and it was you, that told her.”’ 


CHAPTER XIV 
THE TRIAL OF MARY EASTY 
Meas EASTY, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah 


Cloyse were sisters. There had long been an 
outstanding feud between their father and Thomas 
Putnam, the father of Ann Putnam, and although 
the three sisters were married—and no longer 
dwelt with their father—they were relentlessly 
pursued by the unprincipled Putnams who con- 
trolled the politics of the village. 

All of the women were convicted. Mrs. Nurse 
and Mrs. Easty were hung, and Mrs. Cloyse was 
in the gaol awaiting execution when the Court 
went out of business. These three sisters were 
of good character and faithful members of the 
church. 

Mrs. Easty was fifty-eight years of age and the 
wife of Isaac Easty of Topsfield. She had seven 
children. She was arrested on May twentieth and 
taken to the house of Thomas Beadle in Salem 
where she was examined before Judge Hathorne 
and Judge Corwin. She was charged with tor- 
menting Mercy Lewis, Ann Putnam, Elizabeth 
Hubbard, and Mary Walcott. 


The following is the preliminary examination: 
‘Doth this woman hurt you?” Many mouths 
were stopt. Abigail Williams said it was Goody 
Easty hurt them. The like said Mary Walcott and 
142 


The Trial of Mary Easty 143 


Ann Putnam. John Jackson said he saw her with 
Goody Hobbs. 

‘What do you say, are you guilty?”’ 

‘Before Christ Jesus I am free.” 

‘You see these accuse you!” 

’Chereis-a:God!.” 

‘Hath she brought the book to you?”’ 

Their mouths (the witnesses) were stopt. 

“How far have you complied with Satan?” 

‘‘T have never complied but prayed against him 
all my days! What would you have me do?”’ 

‘Confess if you be guilty!” 

‘Lam clear-of this sin.”- 

“Of what sin?” 

‘Of witchcraft.” 

‘Are you certain this is the woman?”’ 

Never a one could speak for fits. By and by 
Ann Putnam said that it was the woman. Her 
hands were clincht together and then Mercy 
Lewis was clincht. 

“Look now, your hands are open. Her hands 
are open!” 

“Ts this the woman?”’ 

They made signs but could not speak. ‘Then 
Betty Hubbard cried out, “Oh, Goody Easty, 
Goody Easty, you are the woman!” 

Judge: ‘Put up her head, for while her head 
is bowed the necks of these are broken. What do 
you say of this?” 

“Why, God will know!” 


144 The Salem Witch Trials 


‘Nay, God knows now.” 

‘Do you not think it is witchcraft ?”’ 

‘Tt is an evil spirit, but whether it be witchcraft 
I do not know!” 

Several said she brought them the book, then 
they fell in fits. Mr. Sam Parris being desired to 
take in writing the examination of Mary Easty, it 
is delivered thus: 

JOHN HATHORNE 
JONATHAN CORWIN 


At her trial, which began August third, the af- 
flicted girls testified. In addition the following 
witnesses testified. Sarah Vibber said, “I saw 
Mary Easty upon John Norton’s bed when he was 
ill, and said Easty flew out upon me and afflicted 
mes 

Mary Walcott said: “I saw the appirition of 
Goody Easty come and pinch and choke me. She 
told me she had blinded our eyes. I saw her ap- 
parition at John Putnam’s house choking Mercy 
Lewis and pressing upon her breast with her hands, 
and I saw her put a chane about her neck, and 
choke her and she told me she would kill her that 
night if she could.” 

Samuel Abbey, age forty-five, said: ‘On the 
twentieth of May I went to the house of Constable 
John Putnam, and when I came there Mercy Lewis 
lay on the bed in a sad condition and continuing 
speachless for about an hour. The woman desired 
me to go to the Thomas Putnam’s and bring Ann 


The Trial of Mary Easty 145 


Putnam, to se if she could se who it was that hurt 
Mercy Lewis. I went and found Abigail Williams 
and Ann Putnam and brought them to see Mercy 
Lewis, and as we were going along the way both 
of them said they saw the apparition of Goody 
Easty, and she was afflicting Mercy Lewis, who 
continued the greater part of the day in such tor- 
ture as no tongue can express but not able to speake 
but at last said: ‘Dear Lord, receive my soule,’ 
and again said, ‘ Lord, let them not kill me quitt,’ 
but at last she came to her self and said Goody 
Easty said she would kill her before midnight. And 
again she fell very bad and cried, ‘Pray for sal- 
vation of my soule for they will kill me.’”’ 

Edward Putnam, age thirty-eight, said: “I saw 
the prisoner, now at the bar, torture Mercy Lewis, 
and I looked for nothing else but present death for 
two days and nights and we thought sometimes her 
mouth and teeth were banded shut until such time, 
as we heard Mary Easty was laid in irons. On 
the second day of Goody Easty’s examination, 
Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Ann Putnam 
were so grievously choked that the honored magis- 
trate could not proceed to the examination until 
they desired me to go to prayer, and in prayer time 
and sum time afterwards they remained in this 
sad condition, and when they could speak they all 
with one accord said it was Mary Easty who tor- 
tured them.” 

Samuel Smith, age twenty-five, said: ‘I was one 


146 The Salem Witch Trials 


night in the house of Isaac Easty and I was so far 
as I know too rude of discourse, and Goody Easty 
said to me I would not have you be so rude of dis- 
course, for I might rue it hereafter, and as I was 
a going home that night a quarter of a mile from 
said Easty’s house by a stone wall, I received a 
little blow on my shoulder with which I know not 
what, and the stone wall rattled very much which 
affrighted me and my horse also was aftrighted 
but I cannot give any reason for it.” 

Margaret Reddington, age seventy, said: 
‘Three years ago I was at Goody Easty’s house 
talking about an infirmity I had and presently I fell 
into a most sollom condition and the day before the 
Thanksgiving we had, I was exceedingly ille and 
that night Goody Easty appeared to me and offered 
me a pece of fresh mete and I told her ’twas not 
fete for the dogs, and I would have none of it and 
then she vanished.” 

While lying in prison, Mary Easty and her sister 
Sarah Cloyse petitioned the Court in their behalf. 
It was in part as follows: 


“We two sisters, Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyse, 
humbly request the Honorable Court that since we 
are neither able to plead our own cause nor is coun- 
sel allowed to those in our condition, that you 
would please be of counsel to us, to direct us 
wherein we may stand in need. 

‘And whereas in the presence of the Living God 
we speak, before whose awful Tribunal we know 
we shall ere long appear and humbly beseech that 


The Trial of Mary Easty 147 


those persons who have the longest and best knowl- 
edge of us may testify for us, such as Mr. Capen 
the pastor and those of the town who are ready to 
say something for us on behalf of the seven chil- 
dren of one of us, Mary Easty. 

“And we pray that the testimony of witches or 
such as are afflicted may not be improved to con- 
demn us without other legal evidence. We hope 
the Honored Court and jury will not be so tender 
of the lives of such as we are who have for many 
years lived under the unblemished reputation of 
Christianity and will not condemn us without a 
fayre and equal trial of what may be sayd for us 
as well as against us.” 


Mary Easty petitioned the Governor in her own 
behalf after her conviction. In it she says: 


‘‘T was confined a whole month upon the same 
account that I am condemned now, then cleared; 
and your Honors know two days later I was cried 
out upon and now I am condemned to die. The 
Lord above knows my innocence and in the great 
day it will be known to men and angeles. I petition 
your Honors, not for my own life, for I know I 
must die and my appointed time is set, but that 
no more innocent blood may be shed. I do not 
question but your Honors does the utmost in your 
powers in the discovery of witches and would not 
be guilty of innocent blood for the world, but I 
know you are wrong, and may the Lord in His 
ereat mercy direct you, and examine some of these 
afflicted ones, and keep them apart sometime, for 
I am confident some has belyed themselves and 
others as will appear, if not in this world I am sure 
in the world to come whither I am going.” 


CHAPTER XV 
THE TRIAL OF MARTHA CARRIER 


ARTHA CARRIER lived at Andover and 

was fifty years old at the time of her trial. 

She had eight children, four of whom, all under 

twelve years of age, were accused of being witches. 

They were arrested and imprisoned with their 
mother, and testified against her. 

Mrs. Carrier was a woman of unusually fine ap- 
pearance. She had black eyes which, it is said, 
afficted everybody in the court room. 

Her children testified that she often appeared to 
them in the form of a black cat and tormented 
them. 

During her trial so many people in the court 
room were afilicted that the judges ordered an 
adjournment, until the prisoner could be blind- 
folded and chained hands and feet. “Two of her 
oldest sons refused to testify against their mother, 
and were strung up by the heels until the blood 
spurted from their mouths. 

The trial was held in the meeting house before a 
large throng of people. She was bitterly de- 
nounced by several witnesses and charged with be- 
ing the ‘ Queen of Witches.’ Cotton Mather in 
his book says of her, ‘‘This rampant hag was 
promised by the devil that she should be ‘Queen 
of Heke Y 

148 


The Trial of Martha Carrier 149 


She was hung on August nineteenth with the 
Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor, 
George Jacobs, and John Willard. 


The following is her preliminary examination. 
It was held on the thirty-first day of May at the 
house of Nathaniel Ingersoll in Salem. Judges 
Hathorne and Corwin presided and wrote down 
the evidence. 

Questions prepondered by Judge Hathorne: 

‘ Abigail Williams, who hurt you?” 

“Goody Carrier of Andover.” 

‘Elizabeth Hubbard, who hurt you?”’ 

‘Goody Carrier.” 

“Susan Sheldon, who hurt you?”’ 

‘Goody Carrier bites and pinches me, and she 
told me she would cut my throat if I did not sign 
her book.” 

“Mary Walcott, who afflicts you?”’ 

“Goody Carrier.” 

Question addressed to Martha Carrier: “* What 
do you say to these you are charged with?” 

“‘T have not done it.’’ (Susan Sheldon cried 
aloud: ‘She looks upon the black man.’) (Ann 
Putnam exclaimed: ‘She stuck a pinn in me.’ ) 

Judge: ‘ What black man is that?” 

Carrier: “I know none.’ (Mary Warren 
cried out that she was stuck with a pinn.) 

Judge: ‘‘ What black man do you see?”’ 

‘‘T saw no black man but your own person.” 


150 The Salem Witch Trials 


‘“Can you look upon these and not knock them 
down?” 

‘They will dissemble if I look upon them.” 

‘You see, you look upon them and they fall 
down.”’ 

It.is false. The devil'is a liar.” 

(Susan Sheldon cried out in a trance: “I won- 
der why you could murder thirteen persons?”’) 
(Mary Walcott cried: “There lay thirteen 
ghosts,”’) and all the afflicted fell into most intoler- 
able outcries and agonies. 

Elizabeth Hubbard and Ann Putnam cried: 
** She killed thirteen at Andover.” 

Carrier: “It is a shameful thing that you 
should mind these folks that are out of their 
minds.” 

Judge: “Did not you see them?”’ 

“Tf I did speak, you will not believe me.” 

‘You did see them?”’ 

‘You lie, lam wronged.” 

‘There is a black man whispering in her ear,” 
said many of the afflicted. (Mercy Lewis, in a fit, 
was well upon the prisoner, grasping her arm, and 
the tortures of the afflicted was so great that there 
was no enduring of it so that the prisoner was 
ordered away and to be bound hand and foot with 
all expedition. ‘The afflicted in the meanwhile were 
almost killed to the great trouble of all the specta- 
tors, magistrates, and others. As soon as she was 
well bound they all had strange and sudden ease. 


The Trial of Martha Carrier 151 


Mary Walcott told the magistrate that she had 
told her that she had been a witch ‘these forty 


years... / 


At the trial the following testimony was given: 

Benjamin Abbott, age thirty-one, testified: 
“Last March I had some land granted to me by 
the town of Andover near to Goodman Carrier’s 
land, and when it came to be laid out Goodwife 
Carrier was very angry and said she would stick as 
close to me as the barck stoke to the tree, and I 
would repent of it before seven years came to an 
end, and that Doctor Prescott could never cure me. 
She said to Ralph Farnam that she would hold my 
nose so close to the grindstone as ever it was held 
since my name was Benjamin Abbott. Presently 
I was taken with a whirling in my head, and then 
I was taken with a payn in my side which appeared 
to be a sore, which was lancit by Doctor Prescott 
and several gallons of corruption did run out. And 
then one other sore did breed in my grine which 
was lancit by Doctor Prescott also, and continued 
very bad a while, then another sore appeared in 
my grine, which was also cut and put me to very 
great misery, and continued until Goodwite Car- 
rier was taken and carried away by the constable, 
and that very day she was taken, it grew better; 
and so I have been well ever since, and have great 
cause to think that said Carrier had a hand in my 
sickness and misery.” 


152 The Salem Witch Trials 


Sarah Abbott, age thirty-two, testified: ‘‘Since 
my husband had a parcel of land granted by the 
town near the land of Thomas Carrier, his wife, 
Martha Carrier, was greatly troubled and gave out 
threatening words, and my husband, Benjamin 
Abbott, has not only been afflicted in his body as 
he said, but also strange and unusual things have 
happened to his cattle, for some have died suddenly 
and strangely which we could not tell any reason 
for, and one cow died suddenly, and some of the 
cattle would come out of the woods with their 
tongues hanging out of their mouths, in a strange 
and affrighted manner, and many such things which 
we could never account for unless it should be the 
effects of Martha Carrier doing it.” 

John Rodgers, age fifty, testified: ‘About seven 
years ago Mr. Carrier, being a nigh neighbor and 
there happening to be some differences betwixt us, 
she gave forth some threatening words as she used 
to do, and in a short time I had two large lusty 
sows that were lost, and I found one them nigh 
Carrier’s house with both ears cut off, and the other 
sow I never heard of to this day. 

‘And the same summer, to the best of my re- 
membrance, [| had a cow which used to give a good 
mess of milk twice a day and of a sudden she would 
give little or none every morning, though at night 
she gave as formerly, and this continued about a 
month. One night three of us watched the cow all 
the night, yet I got no milk in the morning of her. 


The Trial of Martha Carrier 153 


About the month’s end she gave milk as formerly 
she did, by all of which I did in my conscience be- 
lieve then, and have done so ever since, and do yet 
believe that Martha Carrier was the occasion of 
those incidents by means of witchcraft, she being a 
very malicious woman.” 

Phoebe Chandler, age twelve, testified: ‘About 
a fortnight before Martha Carrier was sent for to 
Salem to be examined, upon the Sabbath day when 
the psalm was singing, she took me by the shoulder 
and shook me in the meeting house and asked me 
where [ lived, but I made her no answer not doubt- 
ing but that she knew we had lived next door to 
my father’s house on one side of the way. And 
that day when Martha Carrier was seized, my 
mother sent me to carry some beer to those that 
were at work in the lot and when I come within 
the fence there was a voice in the bushes which I 
thought was Martha Carrier’s voice which I know 
well, but | saw nobody, and the voice asked me 
what I did there and whither I was going and 
threatened me so that I ran as fast as I could to 
those at work and told them what I had heard. 

‘‘About an hour and a half or two hours after 
my mother sent me again to the workmen, and 
coming from there and passing by where I heard 
that voice before, I heard the same voice over my 
head saying I would be poysned within two or three 
days, which accordingly happened, for I went to my 
sister's farm the same day and on Friday following 


154 The Salem Witch Trials 


about one-half of my right hand was greatly 
swollen and exceedingly paynful and also part of 
my face, which I could never account for how it did 
come, and continued very bad for several days, 
and several times since then I have been troubled 
with a sore here upon my body, and upon my leggs, 
when I have been going about so that I could 
hardly go, which I told my mother, and the last 
Sabbath day was the seventh night. I went to 
meeting very well in the morning and went to my 
place where I used to sit. The minister not being 
come, Richard Carrier, son of Martha Carrier, 
looked very earnestly upon me and took my hand 
which had formerly been poysend, and I had a 
strong burning at my stomach, and was struck so 
deaf that I could not hear any of the prayer.” 

Bridget Chandler, age forty, mother of Phoebe, 
testified that her daughter complained on the day 
as above expressed. 

Allen Toothake, age twenty-two, testified: “I 
heard Martha Carrier say that Benjamin Abbott 
would wish he had not that land so near their 
house; that she would stick as cloths to him as the 
barck to the tree. And about last March Richard 
Carrier and myself had some difficulties and said 
Carrier held me down to the ground to beat me. I 
asked him to let me rise. When I was up I went 
to strike at him but I fell down flatt upon my back 
to the ground and had no power to stir hand nor 
foot. And then I saw Martha Carrier get off 


The Trial of Martha Carrier 155 


from my breast but when I was risen up I saw none 
of her. 3 

‘I was wounded in the warre. Martha Carrier 
told me I should never be cured before she was 
buried. I know my wound is nearly four inches 
deep, but since she had been taken I am nearly 
cured and [| have more ease than I have had in half 
a year before. Sometimes, when Martha Carrier 
and I had some differences, she would clap her 
hand at me and say I should get nothing by it, and 
so within a day or so I lost a three-year-old heffer, 
next a yearling, then a cow; and then I had some 
differences again and lost a yearling and I know not 
of anything natural that cause the death of the 
above creatures, but I have always averred it hath 
been the malice of Martha Carrier.” 

Sam Prestol, age forty-seven, testified: ‘About 
two years since I had some differences with Martha 
Carrier which also happened several times before, 
and soon after I lost a cow in a strange manner 
being cast upon her back with her heels up when 
she was very lusty it being in June. And within a 
month after this the said Martha Carrier had some 
differences again, at which time she told me I had 
lost a cow lately and it would not be long before 
I should lose another, which accordingly came to 
pass for I had a cow which was well kept with 
English hay and I could not perceive she ailed 
anywhere, and yet she pined and quickly laid down 
as if she were asleep and died.” 


156 The Salem Witch Trials 


Francis Dane testified for Martha Carrier and 
said: ‘I have lived about forty-four years in the 
town of Andover and have been often among the 
inhabitants, and in my healthful years, often in 
their habitation. I know there was a suspicion of 
Goodwife Carrier among some of us before she 
was apprehended, but I believe many innocent per- 
sons have been accused and imprisoned. It has 
been a trouble to me to see how often to many it 
has been said, ‘You are a witch, you are guilty,’ 
and more than this hath been said, charging per- 
sons with witchcraft and telling they must go to 
prison, and this I fear has caused many to suffer. 
Our sinnes are ignorance wherein we thought we 
did well, yet this does not excuse us when we know 
we did amiss.” 


CHAPTER OXVI 
THE TRIAL OF GEORGE JACOBS SENIOR 


Ce JACOBS, Senior, was about seventy- 

five years old. He had been feeble for a long 
time and went about leaning on two canes. These 
canes are now on exhibition in the Essex Institute 
in Salem. He was a farmer and owned ten acres 
of land about two miles from Salem. His son, 
George Jacobs, Junior, had been sued by Nathaniel 
Putnam for the loss of two horses which it was 
claimed Jacobs drove into the river where they 
were drowned. The suit was decided against 
Jacobs. Jacobs, Senior, testified in favor of his 
son. He was arrested on May tenth, on complaint 
of Thomas Putnam, who accused him of bewitch- 
ing his daughter, Ann Putnam, and several other 
girls. 

At the same time, George Jacobs, Junior, his 
wife and daughter Margaret, and Mrs. Jacobs the 
wife of George Jacobs, Senior, were arrested and 
lodged in the Salem jail. Jacobs, Junior, and his 
wife escaped from the jail and were never tried. 
Margaret, his daughter, made a confession and 
was the chief witness against her grandfather. Be- 
fore the day of Jacobs’ execution she denied her 
confession and then became violently insane and 
was never tried. Sarah Jacobs, the wife of George 
Jacobs, Senior, was convicted but never sentenced. 

157 


158 The Salem Witch Trials 


Shortly after her husband was hung she was re- 
leased from prison and married John Wildes, 
whose wife Sarah was hung as a witch on July 
nineteenth. 

Jacobs was hung on August nineteenth. It is 
said his body was dug up in the night after the 
execution by his son, George, who had returned in 
disguise and witnessed his father’s death. It was 
hidden away for some time afterwards buried on 
the little ten acre farm. All Jacobs’ property was 
seized by the sheriff. His wife’s wedding ring was 
torn from her finger. 

Rebecca Jacobs, the wife of George Jacobs, Jun- 
ior, fled with her husband, leaving six small chil- 
dren to be supported by charitable persons. A 
fine painting of the trial of Jacobs is exhibited in 
the Essex Institute. 


The preliminary examination of George Jacobs, 
Senior, took place on May tenth and eleventh be- 
fore Judges Hathorne and Corwin and, so far as 
the same is preserved, was as follows: 

Judge: “Here are them that accuse you of 
witchcraft.” 

Jacobs: “ Well, let us hear who they are and 
what they are.” 

Judge: “ Abigail Williams.” (Jacobs laught. ) 
“Why do you laugh?” 

Jacobs: ‘‘ Because I am falsely accused. Do 
you think this is true?” 


Trial of George Jacobs Senior 159 
Judge: ‘What do you think?” 


macobs: je ch never! didjtiyy 

Judge: “ Who did it?” 

Jacobs: ‘Don’t ask me.” 

Judge: “Sarah Churchill accuses you. There 
slienisy. 

Jacobs: ‘“‘I am as innocent as a child born to- 
night. I have lived in Salem thirty-three years. If 
you can prove that I am guilty, I will lye under 
es 

Sarah Churchill: “Last night I was afflicted at 
Deacon Ingersoll’s and Mary Walcott said it was 
a man with two staves, it was my master.’”’ (Note: 
Sarah Churchill had been a servant in the home 
ot the accused. ) 

Jacobs: “ Pray do not accuse me, your worship. 
You must judge rightly.” 

Judge: ‘‘ What book did he bring to you, 
Sarah?’ 

Sarah: ‘‘ The same the other women brought.” 

Judge: “The devil can go in any shape.” 

Sarah: ‘‘He appeared to me on the other side 
of the river and hurt me.” 

Judge: ‘Look there, she accuseth you to your 
ficemmusitinot trucs. 

Jacobs: ‘I never wronged no man in word or 
deecdie 

Judge: “Here are three evidences.” 

Jacobs: ‘‘ You tax me for a wizard, you may as 
well tax me for a buzzard.” 


160 The Salem Witch Trials 


Judge: “Is it no harm to afflict these?” 

Jacobs: “I never did it.” 

Judge: “But how comes it to be in your ap- 
pearance?” 

Jacobs: ‘The devil can take any likeness.”’ 

Judge: ‘‘ Not without their consent.” 

Jacobs: “Please, your Worship, I am silly 
about these things as the child born last night.” 

Judge: ‘You argue you have lived so long, but 
Cain might have lived long before he killed Abel 
and you might have lived long before the devil got 
you.” 

Jacobs: ‘‘ Christ hath suffered three times for 
mer 
Judge: ‘ What three times ?”’ 

Jacobs: ‘‘ He suffered the cross and gale.”’ 

Sarah Churchill: ‘You might as well confess 
if you are guilty.” 

Jacobs: “Have you heard that I have any 
witchcraft?” 

Sarah: ‘I know that you live a wicked life.”’ 

Jacobs: ‘Let her make it out.” 

Judge: ‘“ Doth he ever pray in his family?” 

Sarah: ‘ Not unless by himself.” 

Judge: ‘‘ Why do you not pray in your fam- 
ily?” 

Jacobs: “I cannot read.” 

Judge: ‘“‘ Well, but you may pray for all that. 
Can you say the Lord’s Prayer? Let us hear 
you!” 


, to ee ee 


Trial of George Jacobs Senior 161 


Sarah: ‘‘He might in several parts, but he 
could not repeat it right after Mary Mialls.” 

Judge: ‘Sarah Churchill, you said when you 
wrote in that book you were showed your master’s 
name.” 

Saran sve eres, sire’ 

Judge: ‘‘If she says so, what do you say?” 

Jacobs: “The devil may present my like- 
ness.” 

Judge: “ Were you not frightened, Sarah, when 
the likeness of your master came to you?” 

Sarahis\: Yes. 

Jacobs: ‘“‘ Well, burn or hang me, I will stand 
in the truth of Christ.” 

Judge: ‘Do you know nothing of getting your 
son, George, and his daughter, Margaret, to 
sign?” 

Wacobs2 No. 


(On the second examination, May eleventh, the 
following occurred) : 

The bewitched fell into most grievous fits and 
screakings when the accused came in. 

Judge: “Is this the man that hurts you?”’ 

Abigail Williams cried out: “This is the man,” 
and fell into a violent fit. 

Ann Putnam said: “This is the man that hurts 
her and brings her the book, and she should be as 
well as his granddaughter.” 

Judge: ‘‘ Mercy Lewis, is this the man?”’ 


162 The Salem Witch Trials 


Mercy: “ This is the man.”’ After much inter- 
ruption by fitts she said, “* He almost kills me.” 

Elizabeth Hubbard said the man never hurt her 
until the day he came upon the table. 

Judge: “Mary Walcott, is this the man?” 

After much interruption by fitts, she said: *‘ This 
is the man. He used to come with two staves and 
beat me with one of them.” 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you say? Are you not a 
witch?” 

Jacobs: ‘No, if I were to dye presently!” 

Mercy Lewis went to come near him but fell into 
great fits. (Note: The judge here read the testi- 
mony of Mercy Lewis and then asked: ‘‘ What 
do you say to this now?’’) 

Jacobs: ‘‘ Why, it is false.” 

Ann Putnam said: ‘Yes, you told me you had 
been so for forty years.” 

Ann Putnam and Abigail Williams had each of 
them a pin stuck in their hands, and they said it was 
this old Jacobs. 

(Note: ‘he judge here read the testimony of 
Abigail Williams), and then asked: ‘Are you not 
the man that made a disturbance at a lecture in 
Salem?” 

Jacobs: “No great disturbance. Do you think 
I use witchcraft?” 

Judge: “ Yes, indeed.’ 

Jacobs: ‘No, I use none of it.’ 

The foregoing is all of the preliminary examina- 


Trial of George Jacobs Senior 163 


tion now preserved. ‘The prisoner was sent to jail 
where he remained until August fourth, when his 
trial was begun before a jury and six presiding 
judges. The first evidence offered was that of 
George Herrick, who said: 

“Last May, by order of their Majesties’ jus- 
tices, I went to the prison in Salem to search the 
body of George Jacobs, Senior, and William Donn- 
ton, gaol keeper, and Joseph Neale, constable, was 
with me in the search. We found under the right 
shoulder of said Jacobs a tett about a quarter of 
one-inch long or better with a sharp point drupeing 
downwards. So I took a pinn from said Donnton 
and run it through the said tett but neither watter, 
blood, nor corruption nor any other matter we 
found, and so we make return.” 

William Donnton saith: “Said Jacobs was not 
in the least senceble in what we had done for after 
I had made return to the magistrates I told the said 
Jacobs and he knew nothing before.” 

Mary Warren, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Wal- 
cott, Ann Putnam, and Sarah Churchill all testified 
that George Jacobs had often afflicted them. 

Sarah Vibber said: “I saw George Jacobs at 
the gallows when Goody Oliver was hung, and I 
saw the black man help him up, and I saw him 
afflict Mary Walcott and beat her with his staves.” 

John Dovitch, age sixteen, said: “ John Small 
and his wife, Anna, formerly of Salem, but now 
dead, did both appear to me and told me that they 


164 The Salem Witch Trials 


would tare me to peces if I did not go to Mr. 
Hathorne and tell him that George Jacobs, Senior, 
did kill them, and also Mary Warren’s mother did 
appear to me this day with a white man and told me 
that Goodwife Parker and Oliver did kill her, and 
also Sarah Proctor, Joseph Proctor, and John 
Proctor all afflict me every day, and all threaten to 
tare me in peces if I do not sign a booke. Also a 
woman who lives in Boston at the uper end of town 
whose name is Mary. She goes in black clothes 
and hath but one eye with a crooked neck and she 
says there is none in Boston like her. She did af- 
flict me but says she will not any more.” 

Mercy Lewis testified: ‘On April twentieth, at 
about midnight, the apparition of an old, gray- 
headed man told me his name was George Jacobs 
and he had two wives. He tormented me and 
beat me with a stick and he has continued doing so 
ever since. He said he would kill me because I 
testified against his maid and compelled her to con- 
fess. He beat me so hard that he almost putt all 
my bones out of jouynt ’till my strength and hartt 
was ready to fail, but being upheld by an Almighty 
hand I endured his tortures. He offered to give 
me gold and many fine things if I would write in 
his book, but I told him I would not if he would 
give me all the world. In my hartt I believe 
George Jacobs is a most dreadful wizard.” 

Joseph Flint testified: ‘‘I was at the house of 
Mr. Thomas Beadles in May when the magistrates 


Trial of George Jacobs Senior 165 


were examining George Jacobs and his grand- 
daughter, Margaret and, understanding she had 
confessed, I went into another room where George 
Jacobs was and told him his granddaughter had 
confessed and he asked me what she had confessed. 
I told him she had confessed she was a witch. 
Whereupon Jacobs said that she was charged not 
to confess, and when I asked him who charged her 
he made a stop and at last said if she were innocent 
and yet confest she would be accessory to his 
death.” 


CHAPTER XVII 
THE TRIAL OF JOHN AND ELIZABETH PROCTOR 


J OHN PROCTOR was a prosperous farmer liv- 
ing with his wife, Elizabeth, in Salem. On 
April eleventh, Mrs. Proctor was arrested by John 
Putnam, constable, and taken to the home of Dea- 
con Ingersoll for examination. Her husband fol- 
lowed and resented many insults hurled at her by 
the judges. Whereupon he was immediately ar- 
rested and placed in irons. Both husband and 
wife were tried on August fifth, and sentenced to 
death. 

Proctor asked for a writ of habeas corpus but 
was refused. Mary Warren, his servant, was one 
of the “ Circle Girls.” She had been punished by 
Proctor some time before and made to stay at 
home and spin. This probably resulted in Proc- 
tor’s death. 

Both he and his wife were members of the 
church but, for some reason, Proctor had neglected 
to attend prayer meeting and was regarded as a 
backslider. He was hung, with five others, on 
August nineteenth. His wife was about to become 
a mother and Proctor pleaded for her on this ac- 
count. Her execution was postponed, and she died 
in prison. 

On the gallows, Proctor prayed loudly to be 
spared. He said he was too wicked to die. He 

166 


Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 167 


begged Reverend Nicholas Noyes, who was pres- 
ent, to pray for him, but Noyes refused. 

He was the wealthiest of all those who were 
hung. On the day of his arrest, the sheriff went 
to his home and seized all his property, including 
cattle, sheep, and goats, and shipped them to the 
West Indies. 

In 1711 the colony of Massachusetts voted five 
hundred seventy-eight pounds to be paid to the 
heirs of the men and women who had been exe- 
cuted. One hundred fifty pounds of this was given 
to the Proctor heirs because of their greater loss. 

In 1722, Phillip English openly charged in the 
church that Reverend Nicholas Noyes killed Proc- 
tor and his wife. For this accusation, he was ar- 
rested and fined twenty pounds. 

The Proctors had three daughters, one of whom 
confessed herself a witch and testified against the 
other members of the family. 

The jury which examined the body of Proctor 
reported: ‘Having searched the body of John 
Proctor now in gaol we do not find anything to 
further suspect him.” 

Proctor had been involved in rather serious 
trouble with several of his neighbors. He had once 
acted as a referee between Giles Corey and John 
Gloyd and decided against Corey. At another time 
his house burned down and he caused Giles Corey 
to be arrested and accused him of setting fire to the 
house. After a long trial, Corey was acquitted. 


168 The Salem Witch Trials 


Proctor and wife were confined in the Boston 
gaol for several months. He filed a petition for 
a change of venue from Salem and asked to be tried 
in Boston. This angered his judges, who promptly 
denied his motion. 

After his conviction and while awaiting execu- 
tion, he wrote to Increase Mather, then President 
of Harvard College, the following letter: 


“Here are five persons who have lately con- 
fessed themselves to be witches, and do accuse some 
of us of being along with them at a sacrament. 
Since we were committed into close prison at the 
time, we all know what they said to be lies. 

‘Two of the five are Carrier children, young 
men who would not confess anything until they tied 
their necks and heels together till the blood was 
ready to come out of their mouths. 

“My son, William Proctor, because he would 
not confess they tied his neck and heels till the 
blood gushed out of his nose.”’ 


Elizabeth Proctor testified against her husband. 
In all probability, it was this that saved her from 
the gallows. 


The following is the only evidence available at 
this time: 

‘Proctor met Sam Sibley and asked how things 
were going at the village. Sibley said they were 
very bad last night. Proctor replied: ‘I will go 
up and fetch my jade home.’ (Meaning Mary 
Warren, his servant. )”’ 


Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 169 
Sibley asked him why he talked so and he said, 


“If these girls are left alone we will all be devils 
and witches. They ought all be sent to the whip- 
ping post. When she first had fits I kept her close 
to the wheel and threatened to thrash her, but now 
she is out again and must have fits.” 

Abigail Williams said, ‘I saw Proctor sitting in 
the magistrate’s lap.’ John Indian cried out to 
the dog under the table to come out because Good- 
man Proctor was on his back. 

The Reverend Samuel Parris testified to the 
great torment inflicted upon all the girls by 
Proctor. Then all became dumb and writhed in 
great agony upon the floor. 

Samuel Parris requested that he be permitted to 
take the examination in writing. 

Stephen Bettford testified: “On April third, 
about midnight as I was in the bed at the house of 
James Darling at Salem I, being partly awake, saw 
standing in the chamber Elizabeth Proctor, whom 
I well knew, and I[ was in very great payn in my 
neck and could not stir my head nor spake a word, 
but I cannot say it was she who hurt me, and for 
two or three days after I could not stir my neck 
but moved my whole body.” 

William Royment testified: “I being at the 
house of Lieutenant Ingersoll some time in March, 
there discoursing concerning several persons sus- 
pected of being witches, I was saying that I heard 
that Goody Proctor was to be examined tomorrow, 


170 The Salem Witch Trials 


and Goody Ingersoll replied she did not believe it. 
Then one of the afflicted persons being there pres- 
ent, cried out: ‘Goody Proctor, Goody Proctor 
an old witch. We'll hang her!’ Goody Ingersoll 
sharply reproved her and then they seemed to make 
a jest of it.” 

Elizabeth Booth testified: ‘‘On the eighth of 
June Father Lan Shafting appeared to me and said 
Elizabeth Proctor killed him because my mother 
would not send for Doctor Gregg to give him fisik 
and also because she was not sent for when he was 
first taken sicke. 

‘ Robert Stone, Senior, also appeared to me and 
told me that John Proctor and Elizabeth, his wife, 
killed him because they had some difference and 
also at the same time Robert Stone, Junior, ap- 
peared to me, and told me that John Proctor and 
his wife killed him because he took his father’s 
part. 

‘On the same day Hugh Jones appeared to me 
and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
cause he had a keg of sider from her which he had 
not paid for. 

‘‘And Elizabeth Shaw appeared to me and told 
me that Elizabeth Proctor and John Willard killed 
her because she did not use those doctors she ad- 
vised her to. And John Fulton appeared to me 
and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
cause he would not give her aples when she sent 
for them. 


Trial of John and Elizabeth Proctor 171 


“And Doctor Zeruble Endicot appeared to me 
and told me that Elizabeth Proctor killed him be- 
cause they differed in their judgments about 
Thomas Veries’s wife, and likewise he said Eliza- 
beth Proctor would have killed Doc Endicot’s wife 
but could not, but lamed her a good while.” 

Note: The foregoing statements were sepa- 
rately made and signed by Elizabeth Booth, an 
eighteen year old girl who could not write her own 
name. All the parties named as having appeared 
to her were dead. Some had been dead over ten 
years. Yet this evidence was accounted worthy 
of consideration by the learned judges. 

Joseph Bayley testified: ‘On the twenty-fifth 
of May last myself and my wife being bound to 
Boston on the road I came in sight of the house 
where John Proctor did live and there was a hard 
blow strook on my breast which caused great payn 
in my stomach, and amazement in my head, but I 
did see no person near me only my wife behind me 
on the same horse, and when I came against John 
Proctor’s house I did see John Proctor looking out 
of the window and his wife did stand just inside. 
I told my wife of it and she did look but could see 
nothing but a little maid. I saw no maid. 

‘Afterwards about a half a mile from the house 
I was taken speechless for some short time. My 
wife did ask me several questions and desired me if 
I could not speak to raise my right hand which I 
did and immediately I could speak as well as ever 


172 The Salem Witch Trials 


I could and soon I received another blow on my 
breast which caused much payn and I could not sit 
on my horse, and when I did alight off my horse I 
saw a woman coming towards us about fifteen pole 
from us but did not know who it was. My wife 
could not see her and when I got up on my horse 
again there stood a cow where I saw the woman. 
Then we went to Boston without any further moles- 
tation but after I came home again I was pincht 
and nipt by some invisible thing for sum time, but 
now through God’s goodness I am well again.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 
THE TRIAL OF ANN PUDATOR 
NN PUDATOR was the widow of Jacob 


Pudator, and was of French descent. She 
had five children. She was what is known as a 
‘* Malefick,”’ one who does evil for evil’s sake. She 
went about much from house to house, pretending 
to be a friend, when in fact she was seeking an op- 
portunity to do an injury. 

It was frequently said of her that she sat in her 
chimney corner and stuck pins and needles into pop- 
pets. This caused the sleeping babes in all the 
neighborhood to have fits and old men and women 
to have colic and rheumatism. She would send 
an apple or a plate or other gift to a neighbor and 
as soon as the gift was touched, ill health, unhappi- 
ness, and sometimes death would follow. She was 
arrested on May twelfth, and hung September 
twenty-second. 


The record of her preliminary examination is 
partly preserved. It began on July second, before 
Judges Hathorne and Corwin. 

Judge: ‘Did you bring her the books?” 

Answer: ‘‘I never saw ye woman before.” 

Lieutenant Joe Neal was then asked what he 
knew about this woman. He said: “She has al- 
ways been an ill carriaged woman, since my wife 

173 


174 The Salem Witch Trials 


has been sick of ye small pox, this woman has 
come to my house pretending kindness and I was 
glad to see it. She asked me whether she might 
use our morter which was used for my wife and | 
consented to it, but afterwards repented of it, for 
ye nurse told me my wife was ye wors for she was 
very ill of a flux which she had not had before, and 
since she has dyed.”’ 

Elizabeth Hubbard said she had seen the pris- 
oner hurt Mary Walcott. 

Judge: “Pudator, what did you do with the 
ointment you had in ye house?”’ 

Answer: ‘ [never had ointment or oil but meat 
tried out in my house since ye husband dyed.” 

Joseph Neal testified she had nearly twenty jars 
that had ointment or grease in them. 

Pudator said it was grease to make soap of. 

Judge: ‘Why did you put them in so many 
things when one would have held all?” 

Answer: “It was neats foot oil I had in the 
house.’ 

Here Mary Warren fell into fits and was only 
restored when Pudator took her by ye wrists. 

Sarah Churchill then said that Pudator choked 
her and pinched her and stuck pins into her, and 
brought poppets to her and compelled her to stick 
pins into it to torment other persons. 

Mary Warren testified that Pudator often stuck 
her with pins and it was either her or her apparition 
which was the cause of John Turner’s falling off 


The Trial of Ann Pudator 175 


ye cherry tree to his great hurt and which amazed 
him in his head and almost killed him and she was 
the cause of Neal’s wife’s death and also she killed 
her husband and John Best’s wife. 

John Best said: ‘My mother several times in 
her sickness complained that Ann Pudator of 
Salem bewitched her and she believed she would 
kill her before she was dun with her. Several 
times I went into the woods to fetch my father’s 
cowes and I[ did drive Goody Pudator’s cow back 
from our cowes and I, being alone, she would 
chide me when I came home from driving the cowes 
back, for this reason I do believe said Pudator to 
be a witch.” 

Sam Pickworth said: “I was coming along 
Salem street about six weeks ago when | saw a 
woman near Captain Higginson’s house which I 
supposed to be Ann Pudator, and in a moment of 
time she passt me as swift as if a burd flew past 
me and I saw said woman go into Ann Pudator’s 
house.” 

Sarah Churchill said: ‘Goody Pudator brought 
me a book to sign and I did know her at that time 
to be the same as the prisoner at the bare. She told 
me she killed John Trask’s child. One time George 
Jacobs was with her and he called her a ‘bitch, 
witch,’ and ill names, and Ann Pudator brought 
three images like Mercy Lewis, Ann Putnam, and 
Elizabeth Hubbard and they brought me thorns 
and I stuck them in the images and she told me the 


176 The Salem Witch Trials 


persons whose likeness they were would be afflicted, 
and the other day I saw Goody Oliver sit on her 
knee.” 

Doctor Roger Toothaker was called to examine 
several of the afflicted and later testified against 
several prisoners, including Ann Pudator. On May 
eighteenth, he was arrested and accused of being 
a wizard. He was convicted and sentenced to 
prison to be kept in irons. The chief witness 
against him, in addition to the afflicted girls, was 
Thomas Gage, age thirty-six, who said: ‘Some- 
time last spring Doctor Toothaker was in my house 
in Beverly and we discoursed about John Mar- 
shall’s childe in Salem that was then sick and hav- 
ing unwonted fits and likewise another childe of 
Phillips White’s of Beverly who was then strangely 
sick. 

‘| perswaded Doctor Toothaker to go and see 
the said children and said ‘Toothaker said he had 
seen both already and his opinion was they were 
under a eville hand and further said Toothaker 
said that his daughter had kild a witch, and I askt 
him how she did it and he sayd that his daughter 
had learned something from him. I asked by what 
means he did it and he said that there was a certain 
person complained of being afflicted by another 
person that was suspected by the afflicted person 
and he said that his daughter got some afflicted per- 
son’s wine and put it into an earthern pott and 
stopt the pott very close and putt said pott into a 


The Trial of Ann Pudator 177 


hott oven and stopt up the oven and the next 
morning the child was dead. He said other 
things which I have forgotten.” 

Ann Pudator was one of the last eight who were 
hung on September twenty-second. Seven of these 
were old, defenseless women. ‘There is nothing to 
show that any of them were of ill-repute. 

It is probable that Ann was a busybody such as 
may be found in every community. She was prob- 
ably too much interested in other people’s business. 
This is a grievous fault, but one not deserving the 
death penalty, 


CHAPTER XIX 
THE TRIAL OF JOHN WILLARD 
J OHN WILLARD was a deputy sheriff and had 


a wife and three children. He had imprisoned 
several persons accused of witchcraft, and was 
heard by some to express sympathy for some of 
them. ‘This aroused resentment against him, and 
he became frightened and went to his grandfather, 
Bray Wilkins, and asked the old man to pray for 
him. The grandfather, who was eighty years old, 
said he did not have time to pray. The next day 
John Willard, Bray Wilkins, his wife, and his son 
John rode on horseback to Boston to attend the 
election. On their return they stopped at a tavern 
and Bray Wilkins became very sick. Mercy Lewis 
and Mary Walcott were sent for to find out what 
was the matter with him. As soon as they ar- 
rived at the house they fell into fits and cried, 
‘See John Willard on his,grandfather’s belly!” 
Willard was arrested and lodged in jail, but es- 
caped a few days later and was overtaken forty 
miles away. He was condemned and hung on 
August nineteenth. Old Bray Wilkins died, and 
the coroner’s verdict was, “‘ Bray Wilkins came to 
his death by being strangled and choked to death 
by the specter of John Willard.” 

There were seven indictments against Willard. 
He was charged with bewitching Bray Wilkins, 
178 


The Trial of John Willard 179 


Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, Susan Sheldon, and 
Ann Putnam. 

John Putnam was a constable at Salem and he 
was directed to arrest John Willard, the deputy 
sheriff. ‘Che return on his report reads: ‘‘I went 
to the house of John Willard and made search for 
him, and in several other houses and places but 
could not find him. His relatives and friends then 
gave me an account that to their best knowledge he 
was fleed.”’ 

Susan Sheldon testified: ‘ John Willard afflicts 
me both day and night and tempts me to set my 
hand to the book, but I would not. He said he 
would slap me, and suddenly a sore wound came 
on my side. Then Elizabeth Colson stabbed at 
me right near the other side so that I speate blood. 
Then Goody Proctor appeared to me and temted 
me to set my hand to the book.” 

Hannah Putnam, age thirty, said: “The shapes 
of Samuel Fuller and Lydia Wilkes this day told to 
me, at my house, where they appeared to me in 
winding sheets, that if I did not go and tell Mr. 
Hathorne that John Willard had murdered them, 
they would tare me to pieces. I know where they 
were living, and it was exactly their resemblance 
and shapes. At the same time the apparition of 
John Willard told me he had killed Samuel Fuller, 
Lydia Wilkes, Goody Shaw, and Fuller’s second 
wife, and Aaron Way’s child and Ben Fuller’s child 
and my child Sarah, six weeks old, and Phillip 


180 The Salem Witch Trials 


Knight’s child, and Cheever’s children and Ann 
Elliott and Isaac Nichols; and if Mr. Hathorne 
would not believe me, Samuel Fuller and Lydia 
Wilkes shapes would appear to the magistrates. 
Joseph Fuller’s apparition came to me also the 
same day and told me that Goody Corey had killed 
him, and the specter told me that vengence was 
cried out for.” 

Sam Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll, and Thomas 
Putnam testified: “Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary 
Warren, Ann Putnam, and John Indian were ex- 
ceedingly tortured and hurt at the examination of 
John Willard before the magistrates on the eight- 
eenth of May, and whenever he looked upon 
Elizabeth Hubbard she was knocked down, and 
they all saw at the examination a black man whis- 
pering to him in his ear. And Susan Sheldon could 
not come near to Willard, but she was knocked 
down; and Mary Warren, when in a fit, was carried 
to him and as soon as she grasped his arm she was 
immediately well. And several of the afflicted also 
told diverse of those he had murdered and who 
rose up against him. John Willard could not re- 
peat the Lord’s Prayer, when we asked him to do 
so, though he made manifold assays.” 

Susan Sheldon testified: ‘I was at Natt Inger- 
soll’s house and the apparitions of these four per- 
sons appeared: William Shaw’s first wife, Widow 
Cook, Goodman Jones, and his child; and among 
these came the apparition of John Willard, and 


The Trial of John Willard 181 


these four said to him he had murdered them, and 
then they turned as red as blood, and turning about 
to look on me they turned as pale as death, and 
these four told me to tell Mr. Hathorne. Willard, 
hearing them, pulled out a knife, saying if I did he 
would get my blood. 

‘The same day there appeared to me Elizabeth 
Colson and she took a book and would have me 
set my hand to it, and I would not. Then she 
proffered me a black peace of money and said I 
might touch it, and I would be well. On May 
tenth, there appeared to me the same apparitions 
and another with them in the likeness of a man, and 
they said I should go and tell Mr. Hathorne of it. 
Then Willard said he would break my head and 
stab my leggs if I should go. Then there appeared 
to me a shining man who told me I should go and 
tell what I had heard and seen to Mr. Hathorne, 
and this Willard being there, told him if I did he 
would cut my throat. At this same time and place 
this shining man told me that if I did go to tell this 
to Mr. Hathorne I should be well going and com- 
ing, but I should be afflicted there. ‘Then I said to 
the shining man, ‘ Drive Willard away and I would 
believe what he said, that he might not choke me.’ 
The shining man held up his hand and Willard 
vanished away. 

‘“‘ About two weeks after the same appeared to 
me again and the said Willard with them, and I 
asked them where their wounds were, and they 


182 The Salem Witch Trials 


said there would come an angel from Heaven and 
would show them. And forthwith the angel came 
and I asked what the man’s name was that ap- 
peared to me last and the angel told me his name 
was Southart. And the angel lifted up his winding 
sheet, and out of his left side she pooled a pitch 
fork tang; and likewise she opened all the winding 
sheets, and showed me all their wounds, and told 
me to tell Mr. Hathorne of it. And I told him to 
hunt Willard away, and I would, and he put up 
his hand and he vanished away. 

‘On the evening of the same day came to me the 
apparition of these three: John Willard, Eliza- 
beth Colson, and one old man which I knew not, 
who tempted me with their books and money and 
afflicted me sorely all the fore part of the night. 
I saw this Willard suckle the apparition of two 
black pigs on his breast, and this Colson suckled, 
as it appeared, a little bird. This old man which I 
knew not, suckled a black snake. Then Willard 
tempted me again with his book. I said to Wil- 
lard, ‘How long have you been a wizard?’ He 
told me thirty years.” 

Henry Wilkins testified: ‘On the third of May 
last, John Willard came to my house and entreated 
me to go with him to Boston, which I consented to 
do. My son, Daniel, was much troubled because 
I consented to go with him, and he said he thought 
it would be well if the said Willard was hanged; 


but after I was gone my son was taken very sick, 


The Trial of John Willard 183 


and the doctor said he was sick from some preter- 
natural cause and would not give him any fisik.” 

Bray Wilkins testified: ‘‘ John Willard came to 
my house greatly troubled and desired me to pray 
with him. I told him I was then going from home, 
and could not stay but if I should come home be- 
fore night I should not be unwilling. But it was 
night when I got home and I did not answer his 
desire. After that, my wife and I went to Boston 
at the last election, when I was as well as in many 
years before. When we came to my brother Rich- 
ard Way’s house at noon there were many friends 
to dine there, Mr. Lawson and his wife and several 
more, when John Willard came into the house with 
my son Henry and he looked on me with such force, 
as I never did see before, and I did but step into the 
next room, and I was taken in a strange condition, 
and I could not dine nor eat anything. I cannot 
express the misery I was in. I was like a rock. I 
told my wife I was afraid Willard had done me 
wrong. Mr. Lawson and others were all amazed 
to know what to do with me. 

‘There was a woman accounted skillful, and she 
came to help me. She used means she had used be- 
fore, but they did not help me. Then she asked 
if any evil person had done me damage and I said 
I could not say. I laid this way three or four days 
in Boston, and when I came home some of my 
friends came to see me (and at this time John 


Willard had run away). One of the afflicted per- 


184 The Salem Witch Trials 


sons, Mercy Lewis, was there and she said, ‘ There 
is John Willard, upon his grandfather’s belly.’ I 
continued so in payn for many days until said John 
Willard was in chanes, and then I had considerable 
ease,” 

Willard and Proctor were hung at the same 
time. It is said both cried and begged for only 
another day in which to prepare for death. 

Their loud lamentations caused many in the 
crowd to weep, and some fainted. 


CHAPTER XX 
THE TRIAL OF SAMUEL WARDWELL 


AMUEL WARDWELL was an inoffensive 
man of about fifty-five years of age. He lived 
in Andover and owned a little farm. For many 
years he had been a fortune teller, strolling about, 
reading palms and solving life’s mysteries from the 
broken tea leaves in the bottom of the cup. His 
hobby seemed to be to pick out suitable lovers for 
all the love-sick in town. Many idle rogues be- 
came fortune tellers and magicians and ‘roamed 
everywhere. ‘The laws of England and some of 
the colonies prescribed punishments for those who 
assumed to read the future. The chief complaint 
against Wardwell was that his predictions too 
often came true. This proved that he was a 
wizard. 

He was arrested on September first, and lodged 
in the Salem jail charged with bewitching Mary 
Sprague, a sixteen year old girl, who said he 
pinched her and knocked her down. 

After a few days in jail, he confessed that he was 
a wizard and could charm even the cattle and pigs 
so that they would follow him anywhere. A few 
days later he denied his confession, and was 
promptly brought to trial. His wife and daughter 
testified against him and told of his strange antics. 

He was convicted and hung on September 

185 


186 The Salem Witch Trials 


twenty-second, along with seven others. He made 
a farewell speech from the gallows and while doing 
so the executioner smoked a pipe in his face. 
Wardwell coughed and the crowd cried: “The 
devil chokes him!” 

His wife and daughter were also convicted but 
because of their confessions were not hung. Mrs. 
Wardwell later died in prison. 


The following is all of Wardwell’s confession 
now preserved: 


‘‘T used, when any creature came into my field, to 
bid the devil take it; and when I was a young man I 
could make all my cattell come round about and 
follow me. 

“Once I saw some catts together with the ap- 
pearance of a man who called himself ‘A Prince of 
the Air,’ and he promised me I should be a captain 
if I would honor him, which I promised to do. The 
reason I was discontented was because I was in love 
with a maid named Barker who slighted my love. 
The first appearance of the catt was behind Cap- 
tain Bradstreet’s house. ‘The next week a black 
man appeared in the day time in the same place and 
called himself, ‘Prince and Lord,’ and told me I 
must worship him, and said I should never want for 
anything. And whenever after that I went to 
prayer in my family the devil was angry. I signed 
his book by making a mark like a square with a 
black pen which the devil brought to me. 

‘I told the devil I would serve him until I was 
fifty years old. The first person that I afflicted was 
Martha Sprague, and the devil put me up to it. I 
did it by pinching my coat and buttons when I was 


The Trial of Samuel Wardwell 187 


angry. I was baptized by the black man in Shaw’s 
River alone, and was dypt all over.” 

When asked what he thought ought to be done 
with him, he said: ‘I think I ought to dye for 
itt 

Martha Sprague, age sixteen, testified: ‘Sam 
Wardwell afflicted me many times by pinching and 
sticking me with pinns and striking me down. And 
I also have seen him afflict Rose Foster and her 
mother, and I verily believe he is a wizard.” 

Mary Warren and Mary Walcott both testified 
that the prisoner afflicted them. 

Ephraim Foster, age thirty-four, testified: ‘I 
heard Sam Wardwell, prisoner now at the bar, tell 
my wife she should have five girlls before she 
should have a son, which thing is come to pas. And 
I heard him tell Dorty Eams her fortune, and I 
heard said Dorty say after that she believed Ward- 
well was a witch or els he could never tell what he 
did. And I took knotes that said Wardwell would 
look in their hand, and then would cast his eyes 
down upon the ground, always before he told any- 
thing. This I have seen and heard severall times 
and about severall persons, and he could make cat- 
tell come to him when he pleased.” 

Thomas Chandler, age sixty-five, testified: “I 
have often heard Sam Wardwell of Andover tell 
young persons their fortunes, and he was much 
adicted to that, and made sport of it.” 

Joseph Ballard, age forty-one, testified: “My 


188 The Salem Witch Trials 


brother John Ballard, told me that Sam Wardwell 
told him, that I had reported that he had bewitched 
my wife. These words were spoken before I had 
any knowledge of my wife’s being afflicted with 
witchcraft. After that I, meeting with Sam Ward- 
well, prisoner at the bar, told him that I doubted 
that he was guilty of hurting my wife, for I had 
no such thoughts, nor had spoken such wordes of 
him, or any other person, and therefore I do not 
know that you are guilty, the said Wardwell, he 
had spoke it to my brother.” 

Abigail Martin, age fifteen, testified: ‘“* Last 
winter Sam Wardwell being at my father’s house 
with John Farnam, I heard said John Farnam ask 
said Wardwell to tell his fortune which he did, and 
he told him that he was in love with a girll, but 
should be crost, and should go to the southward, 
which said Farnam owned to be true. Said Ward- 
well further told him he was like to be shot with a 
gun, and should have a fall off from his horse, 
which said Farnam after owned he told right. 

‘And I heard him tell Jeanes Briges his fortune 
that he loved a girll fourteen years old, which 
said Briges owned to be the truth, but could not 
imagine how Wardwell knew, for he never spake 
of it. And John Briges, father of said Jeanes 
Briges, said he heard Jeanes say, ‘I wonder how 
he could tell so true.’” 


CHAPTER XXI 
THE TRIAL OF SARAH WILDES 
oo WILDES was the wife of John Wildes 


and was about seventy years old when she was 
arrested by her son, Ephraim Wildes, a deputy con- 
stable, and taken to the house of Deacon Ingersoll 
for examination before Judge Hathorne. She had 
three children—two daughters and her son, 
Ephraim. One daughter was married to Edward 
Bishop. All were arrested about the same time 
and taken with eleven other women to the Boston 
jail. 

All the ‘ Circle Girls,” together with Goodwives 
Bibber, Pope, and Putnam, were present at her 
preliminary trial at Deacon Ingersoll’s and were 
greatly tortured. Some of them caused so much 
confusion that Captain Howe seized Mrs. Wildes 
and dragged her from the room. Then all the 
afflicted fell into fits and cried, ‘‘ See her there upon 
the beam!”’ 

Two little daughters of Martha Carrier less 
than ten years old testified they saw the prisoner at 
the witches’ sacrament in the minister’s pasture, 
and she rode to the meeting with their mother, 
mounted on a broomstick. 

Mrs. Wildes, Edward Bishop her son-in-law, 
and her two daughters were all convicted and 
bound in chains, Bishop and his wife escaped and 

189 


190 The Salem Witch Trials 


fled to New York, but Goody Wildes was hung 
on July nineteenth, with Sarah Good, Rebecca 
Nurse, Elizabeth Howe, and Susanna Martin. 

A few years before, John Wildes had a fight 
with a man by the name of Gould who was a rela- 
tive of John Putnam. The first accusation against 
Mrs. Wildes came from a spiteful old woman by 
the name of Mary Reddington, who was a sister 
of Thomas Putnam. 

Sarah Wildes was a faithful, conscientious Chris- 
tian woman. Her husband, John Wildes, did not 
mourn long after her death. In less than a year 
he married Sarah Jacobs, the widow of George 
Jacobs, who was hung as a wizard on August 
nineteenth. 

Upon the trial of his wife he testified: ‘‘ I heard 
that Mary Reddington did raise a report that my 
wife bewitched her and I went to the house of John 
Reddington and told him I would arrest him for 
his wife defaming my wife. He said for me not 
to do it as it would waste his estate and in time 
she wouldn't do it. I got my brother Averill to 
go to said Mary Reddington and he told me she 
said she knew no harm my wife had done.” 

Eph Wildes, age twenty-seven, her son, testified: 
‘About four years ago there was some likelihood 
of my having one of Goody Simonds daughters, 
and as the maid told me her mother and father 
were very willing I should have her, but some- 
time after I had a hint that Goody Simonds had 


The Trial of Sarah Wildes 191 


said that she believed my mother had done her 
wrong, and I went to her and took Mark Howe, 
that is now dead, and before both of us she denied 
that ever she had any grounds to think any harm 
of my mother only from what Goody Reddington 
had said, and after that I left the house and went 
no more, and ever since she has been angry with 
me and now will reward me. I being constable 
was required to arrest Deliverance Hobbs, and the 
woman did show a very bad spirit when I seized 
her, and she looked like she had revenge in her 
face. She looked melancholy on me, as for my 
mother, she always instructed me in the Christian 
faith, and she was always of God since I was old 
enough to take instruction.” 


CHAPTER XXII 
THE TRIAL OF WILLMOT REED 
ILLMOT REED of Marblehead, the widow 


of a fisherman, was about sixty-five years 
old. She had been sick a long time, and was broken 
down and feeble. She was arrested on May thirty- 
first, and taken to the home of Nathaniel Inger- 
soll in Salem for examination. 

The evidence was heard by Judges Hathorne 
and Corwin, and was by them written down. Like 
Martha Carrier, she was supposed to have an evil 
eye, with which she struck down all whom she 
looked upon. She was convicted and hung with 
seven others on September twenty-second. She was 
one of those of whom the Reverend Nicholas 
Noyes said, “There hangs eight fire-brands of 
Hell.” She was a Christian woman of good 
reputation. 


The judges certify as follows: 

“When the examinant was brought in Mercy 
Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Abigail Williams fell 
into fits. Mercy Lewis said, ‘This woman hath 
pincht me.’ Mary Walcott said, ‘This woman 
brought the book to me.’ Ann Putnam saith she 
seen her hurt Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott the 
last fast day. 

‘Elizabeth Hubbard said she brought the book 

192 


The Trial of Willmot Reed 123 


to her and told her she would knock her in the 
head, if she would not write. 

‘Elizabeth Booth fell into a fit and Mary Wal- 
cott and Ann Putnam said it was this woman 
afflicted her. 

‘Susan Sheldon was ordered to go to the pris- 
oner but was knockt down before she came to her 
and being so carried to said Reed in a fit was made 
well after said Reed had grasped her arm. 

‘Elizabeth Hubbard delt with after the same 
manner. 

‘The prisoner was bid to look upon Elizabeth 
Hubbard by the magistrates, and upon casting her 
eye upon said Hubbard, the same Hubbard was 
knockt down. 

‘Abigail Williams and John Indian being car- 
ried to the prisoner in a grievous fit were made well 
by her grasping their arms. The prisoner being 
askt her opinion in the case all she would say is 
‘my opinion is they are in a sad condition.’””’ 

Upon the trial on September fourteenth, Ann 
Putnam testified: ‘‘I was for a long time afflicted 
by a woman who told me her name was Reed and 
she came from Marblehead. Whenever she lookt 
upon me she would knock me down. I saw her or 
her appearance most grievously afflict Mary Wal- 
cott, and I believe she is a witch.” The other 
girls testified to about the same thing. 

Charity Pitman, age twenty-nine, testified: 
‘About five years ago, Mrs. Syms having lost some 


194 The Salem Witch Trials 


linen which she suspected Martha Laurence, the 
girl which then lived with Willmot Reed, took, de- 
sired me to go with her to Willmot Reed’s and de- 
mand the same. 

‘Having many words about the same, Mrs. 
Syms told her that if she would not deliver them, 
she would go to Salem to Mr. Hathorne and get 
a warrant for her servant girl, upon which the 
said Reed told her in my hearing that she wished 
she might never have ease of nature if she did not 
go, and some short time after that I observed that 
the said Mrs. Syms was taken with a distemper of 
the dry balyach, and so continued many months, 
during her stay in the town, and was not cured 
whilst she tarried in the country.” 

Sarah Dod testified: ‘I heard Mrs. Syms 
threaten to have Willmot Reed before the magis- 
trate, and the said Reed said she wisht Mrs. Syms 
might never have any way to ease nature if she did 
it, and soon after that it fell out with Mrs. Syms as 
Willmot Reed had said.” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


THE TRIALS OF MARY AND ALICE PARKER AND 
MARGARET SCOTT 


ia three women were arrested on Septem- 

ber second and hung on September twenty- 
second. Mary Parker was a quarrelsome old 
widow of Andover. 

Her preliminary examination took place before 
Major Bartholomew Gedney, where she was ac- 
cused of bewitching Martha Sprague. Much 
emphasis was placed upon her evil eye through 
which nearly all in the court room were instantly 
knocked down. 

Mary Warren was present and holding up her 
hand, exhibited a large pin run through it from 
which the blood was flowing. Instantly blood 
flowed from the mouths of several girls and all fell 
in fits. 

John Wesgale testified: ‘Eight years ago I 
was with a company at the house of Sam Beadle, 
and Mary Parker came in and scolded her husband. 
I took his part and when I went home she followed 
after me and railed at me and called me a rogue 
and bid me mind my own business, and pretty soon 
I saw a black hogg running towards me with its 
mouth open, and I ran and fell down upon my hipp, 
and my knife run into my hipp up to the haft, and 
when I got up my stocking and shoe was full of 

195 


196 The Salem Witch Trials 


blood, and I was forced to crawl all the way home, 
and the hogg followed me, and I, having a stout 
dog, when it saw the hogg it ran away leaping 
over the fence yelping. Which hogg I now ap- 
prehend was the devil and that Goody Parker was 
the cause.” 

John Bullock testified: ‘‘ Last January I saw 
Mrs. Parker lay out upon the snow and durt and I 
did desire to help her so she would not perish, but 
one of my neighbors said not to touch her because 
she had that kind of fits, but I did take her upon 
my shoulder and carry her home, but a little way 
going I let her fall upon a place of stones, which 
did not awake her, so I thought she was dead. 
Then I carried her to her house, and while we were 
taking off her clothes, she did rise up in bed and 
laugh in our faces.” 

Sam Shattock testified: ‘Goodwife Parker 
came to my house and fauned upon my wife with 
very smooth words. Right after that our child was 
taken in a very strange manner. It seemed as if his 
vitalls would have broak out his breast boon, be- 
cause he was droun together to the uper part of 
his brest, his neck and eyes droun, and they would 
never come right again. The doctor and others 
did believe he was bewitched. The next day we 
cut off some of his hairs to boyle, which they said 
we should do, and the child did shreek out as if he 
was tormented. We put his hairs into a skillet over 
a fire which stood on the hearth and as soon as the 


The Trials of Parker and Scott 197 


company were gone it was thrown down and we 
could see no creature in the room.” 

Little can now be learned of Alice Parker. She 
was not a sister, but was related to Mary Parker. 
Her husband was a mariner, and she was given to 
over-much talking. 

Martha Dutch, whose husband was a seaman 
and who had been gone a long time, testified that 
Alice Parker told her that her husband would never 
return for he had died abroad a long time agoe. 

She is known to have been a fortune teller, but 
seems to have been alone in the world. Nothing 
was allowed to her heirs from the sum voted by 
the Colony to the legal heirs of those who had been 
hung on the charge of witchcraft. 

The chief witnesses against her were Thomas 
Putnam, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren. 

Margaret Scott was likewise a lonesome old 
widow. No evidence taken at her trial seems to 
have been preserved. She left no heirs, and the 
Colony made no award on account of her death. 


CHAPTER XXIV 
THE TRIAL OF DORCAS HOAR 


G8 of the most interesting trials was that of 

Dorcas Hoar. She was not hung, but con- 
victed and died in prison while awaiting execu- 
tion. 

She was a professional fortune teller and was 
one of the first accused. She had a book on palm- 
istry but in most cases she told fortunes by reading 
the wrinkles over the eyes. Her preliminary ex- 
amination opened on May second before Judge 
Hathorne. 

The ‘Circle Girls’? had so many fits that the 
trial was postponed from day to day. Reverend 
Samuel Parris reported the evidence. 

After telling of the prolonged fits of the girls, 
he proceeds: 

Judge: “Dorcas Hoar, why do you hurt 
these?” 

mioay: silnever nurt thems 

Judge: ‘They charge you with killing your 
husband.” 

Hoar: “I never did it.” 

Judge: ‘‘ You sent for Goody Gale to cut your 
head off?” 


Hoar: ‘I never sent for her for that.” 
Susan Sheldon: ‘‘She came to me with two 
cats.” 


198 


The Trial of Dorcas Hoar 199 


Hoar: “TI never saw you before.”’ 

Judge: ‘“‘ What black cats were those you 
lacie) 

Plogr: 2 had none,” 

Mary Walcott: “A black man is whispering in 
fiervear,.’ 

bloare)) ©,.you are liars 17 

Judge: ‘You are not to speak after that man- 
ner in the court.” 

Hoar: “I will speak the truth as long as I 
live.” 

Mary Walcott said there was a black man whis- 
pering in her ear and he told her never to con- 
fess. 

Goody Bibber said: ‘I seed black man with 
her,” and she fell in a fit. 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you say to these cats that 
suck your breast?” 

Hoar: ‘I had no cats. I never sucked any- 
one but my child.” 

Abigail Williams cried: ‘‘ There is a blue bird 
gone into her back.”’ 

The Marshall struck and several bystanders 
said they saw a fly like a miller. 

Judge: ‘‘ What do you see, Goody Bibber?”’ 
Goody Bibber was taken dumb. 

Judge: ‘‘They say the devil is whispering in 
your ear.” 

oars tcannot help uty’ 

Judge: ‘‘ What book have you?”’ 


200 The Salem Witch Trials 
Hoar: ‘I have no book but the Lord’s book.” 


‘“O!” said the afflicted, “one is whispering in 
hereary 
(Note: Immediately all were afflicted and fell 
down. ) 

Judge: ‘Why did you threaten they would be 
rubbed?” 

Hoar: “I did not speak about rubbing.” 

Judge: “This is unusual impudence to threaten 
before authority.” 

Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, and Elizabeth 
Hubbard were carried toward her, but they could 
not come near. 

Judge: ‘Why can’t they come near you?” 

Hoar: ‘I cannot help it.” 

Samuel Parris says: ‘‘ This is a true account 
without wrong to any party.”’ 


Upon the trial of her case on July second, before 
_a jury many witnesses testified, but only a brief 
summary will here be given. 

Rachel Tuck testified that three years before 
Dorcas Hoar was very sick and she went to sit 
at her bedside one night, but in the night Dor- 
cas Hoar disappeared from the bed, and they 
later found her all dressed and sitting outside the 
house. 

John Hale said: “ Dorcas Hoar had long been 
a fortune teller, and several years ago she told her 
own fortune. She said she would live poorly so 


The Trial of Dorcas Hoar 201 


long as her husband lived, but said he would die 
soon and then she would live better. 

‘She told me she had a book of palmistry and 
there were rules to know what should be come to 
pass. I told her it was all evil. But fourteen 
years ago I discovered that her children were steal- 
ing goods out of my house and I had a daughter 
who said she knew it but dared not tell because 
Dorcas Hoar was a witch and would kill her. 

When Dorcas Hoar was a prisoner in Boston I 
talked with her. She told me that she told for- 
tunes by a certain streak under the eye. She said 
she never saw the devil but once and that was after 
old Thomas Tuck dyed about ten yearsago. After 
that he came back to speak to her about some land, 
but she said she got scared at his ghost and ran 
away.” 

Joseph Morgan testified: “Goody Hoar did 
tell my fortune. She said I should dye before my 
wife, and my oldest daughter would not live to be 
a woman. She said I should sit on the jury to 
search the body of Goodman Hoar, he dying very 
suddenly, and when I did sit on the jury and de- 
sired to have his body stript she flew out of the 
room in a great passion and said: ‘Do you think 
I killed my husband, you wretches?’”’ 

Edward Hooper testified: ‘I was at Dorcas 
Hoar’s house when John Neal brought a hen to the 
said Hoar’s which he had killed doing damages to 
his master’s corn. Then the said Hoar said to the 


202 The Salem Witch Trials 


said Neal, he should be the worse for it before the 
week was out.” 

Maria Gage testified: ‘Dorcas Hoar told her 
my child would not live long, and I asked how she 
knew, for the child was well then. About a month 
after my child was taken sick and dyed suddenly, 
and when I asked Dorcas Hoar how she knew, she 
said she knew a doctor and he gave her a doctor’s 
book so she could tell.” 

Thomas Putnam and Edward Putnam both testi- 
fied against the prisoner. 


CHAPTER XXV 
CONFESSIONS 
PRES were many who confessed. The main 


effort of the prosecution was to prove the 
guilt of the accused, and the best way to prove it 
was to have them admit it. 

It soon developed that none who confessed were 
hung. Therefore confessions were of daily oc- 
currence. Fifty-five were recorded. Most of these 
were written in the gaol while the prisoners were 
awaiting trial. Samuel Wardwell confessed and 
afterwards denied it and was hung. At first, the 
confessions came after the most cruel torture. The 
first was from ‘Tituba, the slave of Reverend 
Samuel Parris, whom she said severely beat her 
with an iron rod to compel a confession. She was 
convicted and confined in chains for several months. 
Her husband, John Indian, betrayed her and testt- 
fied against her. All the others who confessed 
were convicted and confined in prison until the lat- 
ter part of 1692, when the prison doors were 
thrown open and all released. 

These confessions show how familiar the parties 
were with the whole witchcraft delusion in Europe. 
The witches’ sacrament in Reverend Samuel Parris’ 
pasture, and the disguises of the devil are strangely 
like the doings at North Berwick. 

203 


204 The Salem Witch Trials 


Confession of Tituba: 

‘Did you ever see the devil?” 

‘* He came to me and bid me serve him.” 

“Who have you seen?”’ 

‘Four women sometimes hurt the children.” 

“Who are they?” 

“Goody Osborn, Sarah Good, and [| do not 
know the others.” 

‘When did you see them?” 

‘Last night in Boston.” 

‘What did they say to you?” 

‘They said, ‘Hurt the children.’ No, there is 
four women and one man that hurt them and they 
lay it on me.” 

‘Did you hurt them?” 

‘Yes, but I will not any more.” 

‘What have you seen?”’ 

‘‘An appearance that said ‘ Kill the children.’ ”’ 

‘What is this appearence ?”’ 

‘‘Sometimes it is like a hogg and sometimes 
like a great dog.” 

‘What did it say to you?”’ 

“The dog said ‘Serve me,’ and he had many 
pretty things he would give me.” 

‘What else have you seen?”’ 

‘Two rats, a red rat and a black rat.” 

‘What did they say to you?”’ 

‘They said, ‘Serve me.’”’ 

“Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this 


morning ?”’ 


Confessions 205 


‘The man made me pinch her.” 

‘‘ Did you go to Thomas Putnam’s last night and 
hurt the children?” 

‘They pull me there and tell me, ‘ Kill her with 
a knife.” 


‘How did you go?” 
“We ride upon sticks and are there pres- 
ently.” 


‘Did you go through the trees or over them?” 

‘We see nothing.” 

“Why did you not tell your master?” 

‘T was afraid they would cut off my head.” 

‘What attendant hath Sarah Good?” 

“A yellow bird.” 

‘What meat did she give it?” 

‘Tt sucked between her fingers.” 

“What hath Sarah Osborn?” 

“A yellow dog with a head like a woman with 
two legges and wings.” 

“What else have you seen with Osborn?”’ 

‘Another hairy thing, it goes upright like a man 
and has only two leggs.”’ 

‘“Did you see Sarah Good afflict Elizabeth Hub- 
bard?” 

‘T saw her set a wolf upon her to afflict her, and 
at another time I saw a cat with Good.” 

‘“What clothes does this man go in?” 

“He goes in black clothes. A tall man with 
white hair.” 

“How doth the woman go?” 


206 The Salem Witch Trials 


‘In a white whood and a black whood with a 
top knot.”’ 

‘Who is it that hurts these people now ?”’ 

‘IT am blind now, I cannot see.” 

Deliverance Hobbs and her daughter Abigail 
early confessed, and their testimony was used 
against several of the accused. Her confession was 
also taken in gaol, while she was bound in fetters. 
She said: “I was at a meeting of witches yester- 
day morning and there were present Proctor and 
his wife, Goody Nurse, Giles Corey and his wife, 
Goody Bishop, and Burroughs, the preacher. He 
told us to bewitch all in the village, but to do it 
gradually, assuring us we would prevail. He ad- 
ministered the sacrament with red bread, and red 
wine like blood. I saw Osborn, Sarah Good, 
Goody Wilds, and Goody Nurse distribute the 
bread and wine, and a man in a long crowned hat 
sat next the minister, and they sat at a table and 
filled out the wine in tankards. 

“T did not eat or drink but all the rest did, 
therefore they threatened to torment me. ‘The 
meeting was in the pasture by Mr. Parris’ house. 
I saw Abigail Wiliams run out to speak to the 
others, then I was struck blind and could see no 
more. Goody Wilde told me if I would sign the 
book she would give me some clothes and would 
not afflict me any more. I saw Goodman Corey 
and a woman from Boston trying to break my 
daughter’s neck.”’ 


Confessions 207 


Abigail Hobbs was examined in prison on April 
twentieth and May twelfth. At the first examina- 
tion, she confessed that she had been at the great 
witches’ meeting in Parris’ pasture and partook 
of the sacrament. In her last examination the fol- 
lowing occurred: 

‘Did Burroughs bring you any of the poppets 
of his wives to stick pinns into?” 

‘“T don’t remember.”’ 

‘Have you known any who have been killed by 
witchcraft ?”’ 

66 INGe, 

“How came you to speak to Mr. Burroughs 
wives?” 

‘T don’t know.”’ 

‘“Have you afflicted any one?” 

NCS. 

‘“What did you stick into them?”’ 

= horns: 

‘“Did some of them dye?” 

“Yes, Mary Lawrence.” 

‘Where did you stick the thorns?”’ 

‘“T do not know.” 

“Was it about the middle of her body? ”’ 

“Yes, I stuck it right in.” 

‘“What provoked you?”’ 

‘“Some words she spoke.” 

‘“Who brought the image to you?” 

“Mr. Burroughs.” 

“Tow did he bring it to you?”’ 


208 The Salem Witch Trials 


‘In his own bodily person.” 

“What did he say to you?” 

‘“He told me he was angry with the family.” 

‘‘How many years ago was it?”’ 

‘ Before the Indian War.” 

‘“ How did you know Burroughs was a witch?”’ 

‘T don’t know.” 

‘Did the maid complain about payn where you 
stuck her?” 

‘Yes, but I don’t know how long she lived.” 

“Who brought those poppets to you?””’ 

‘Mr. Burroughs.” 

“What did you stick into them?” 

‘‘Pinns he gave me.” 

‘“Did you keep those poppets?”’ 

(6 No.”’ 

‘Were they men, women, or children you 
killed?” 

‘They were boys and girls.”’ 

‘“Were you angry with them?” 

‘Yes, but I don’t know why?” 

‘Did you know Burroughs’ wife?”’ 

6 Ves2 

‘Did you know of any poppets pricked to kill 
her’? 

‘No, John Proctor told me better to afflict than 
be afflicted, and then I should not be hanged. He 
brought me a poppet and a thorn to afflict Ann 
Putnam last Friday.” 

Ann Foster, a widow of Andover, confessed and 


Confessions 209 


testified against several of the accused. She said: 
‘The devil appeared to me several times in the 
shape of a bird as I never saw the like before, and 
I have had the gift of striking the afflicted down 
with my eye ever since. I know the bird was the 
devil, because he came white and vanished away 
black. The devil told me I should have this gift if 
I would believe him, and he told me I should 
have prosperity. He came to me three times, al- 
ways as a bird, and the last time was about a half 
a year since and sat upon a table.- He had two 
leggs and great eyes, and Carrier’s wife came to 
me about three weeks ago and persuaded me to 
hurt these people. One time I bewitched a hogg of 
John Lovjoys to death, and [ hurt some persons in 
Salem. Goody Carrier wanted me to bewitch two 
children of Andrew Allins, and she had two pop- 
pets made and stuck pinns in them to bewitch the 
said children by which one of them dyed and the 
other was very sick. 

‘“‘ Carrier came to me and wanted me to go to the 
meeting of witches. So we got upon sticks and 
went said journey; and I saw Burroughs, the min: 
ister, there, and he spake to all of us. There was 
about twenty-five persons there met together and 
I tied a knot in a rag and threw it into the fire to 
hurt Timothy Swan, and I hurt the rest by squeez- 
ing poppets and almost choked them. When we 
rode on a stick to the meeting the stick broke as 
we were carried in the aire above the tops of the 


210 The Salem Witch Trials 


trees and we fell, and I hung fast about the neck 
of Goody Carrier and we were presently in the 
village and my legge was much hurt. I heard some 
of the witches say there was three hundred and 
five in the whole country, and that they would ruin 
this village. 

‘There was present at the meeting two men 
besides Burroughs. One of them had gray hare 
and used to tend public meetings to worship God. 
About three or four years agoe Martha Carrier 
told me she would bewitch James Hobbs’ child to 
death, and the child dyed in twenty-four hours.”’ 


Mary Lacy was the daughter of Ann Foster and 
she likewise confessed, and gave testimony against 
the others. She said: ‘“ Me and my Mother Fos- 
ter and Goody Carrier rode upon a pole to Salem 
meeting and the pole broke a little way off from the 
village. About three or four years agoe I saw 
Mistress Bradbury, Goody Howe, and Goody 
Nurse baptized by the old serpent at Newberry 
Falls, and he dipped their heads in the water and 
then said they were his. There were six baptized 
at the time who were some of the Chief or Higher 
Powers, and they might be near about a hundred in 
the company at that tyme. 

‘The devil carried me in his arms to Newberry 
Falls. If I take a ragg, clout, or any such thing 
and roll it up together, and imagine it to represent 
such and such a person, then whatever I do to the 


Confessions 211 


rage or clout so rouled up, the person represented 
will be in a like manner afflicted.” 

Both Ann Foster and Mary Lacy, her daughter, 
died in prison after their conviction. After the 
death of the mother, her son, Abraham Foster, 
was compelled to pay the keeper of the prison, two 
pounds and ten shillings before he could secure the 
body for burial. 

Abigail Hobbs had been demented for a long 
time and committed suicide shortly after making 
her confession. 


CHAPTER XXVI 
THE END OF THE ROAD 


HE illegal court of ‘‘Oyer and Terminer” be- 

gan on May 27, 1692, when its judges were 
appointed. It adjourned on September twenty- 
fourth, of the same year, never to meet again. In 
one hundred twenty days it had put to death twenty 
people. Over two hundred were arrested, many 
were convicted, and over one hundred remained in 
prison when the court adjourned. Eight of these 
were under sentence of death. Its last and crown- 
ing act was the hanging of seven old women and 
one man on September twenty-second. These were 
all hauled in a single cart to the place of execution. 
Apparently the only reason why more were not 
hung on that day was because the cart was full. 

Wardwell was the only man in the cart on that 
day. His wife was convicted, and was at that time 
in the jail awaiting execution. Both had confessed, 
but the wife, seeing her husband’s fate, allowed her 
confession to stand. 

Just before the cart reached the gallows, on its 
last trip, it was halted for some mysterious reason. 
Some said the devil did it. Others said it was an 
angry God. ‘The people were beginning to think 
again. Governor Phipp’s wife was now accused. 
Mrs. Hall, the wife of the minister, was charged 
with being a devil emissary. 

212 


The End of the Road 213 


In Andover, Justice Dudley Bradstreet issued 
forty warrants for witches before he became con- 
vinced that many innocent persons were being ac- 
cused. He refused to issue more warrants and 
was accused of bewitching a dog. 

A new court of Common Pleas was created and 
met first in November, then adjourned to January 
5, 1693, when it tried twenty-one persons on the 
charge of witchcraft. All were acquitted but three. 
These were sent to jail and later pardoned. 

In May, 1693, Governor Phipps issued: a par- 
don to all in jail. This included over one hundred 
persons. Some were not released for months after- 
wards because they could not pay their jail fees. 

Whittier says of this time: 

The smith filed off the chains he forged, 
The jail bolts backward fell, 

And youth and hoary age came forth, 
Like souls escaped from hell. 

There were a few trials for witchcraft in Massa- 
chusetts after this. Mary Watkins was tried in 
Boston in 1693 and the jury found her an “ignor- 
amus.”’ 

Great excitement arose the same year in Boston 
over the case of Margaret Rule. She performed 
some strange and wonderful feats which attracted 
Cotton Mather, who personally investigated her 
case. He was convinced she was “‘ ensnared by the 
devil,” and some one was guilty of bewitching her. 
Robert Calef, who also lived in Boston, called to 


214 The Salem Witch Trials 


see Margaret and was equally convinced that she 
was not bewitched but was an imposter. The com- 
munity accepted his conclusion, and the trouble was 
over. 

When Calef, a few years later, wrote a book 
on the subject of the witch trials, he could not get 
it published in America, and it was published in 
London. When it appeared in Boston, Increase 
Mather, then President of Harvard College, had 
it publicly burnt on the college campus. 

There were a few trials for witchcraft in New 
England after 1693, but no one was hung and but 
few were convicted. The effect of the awakening 
of Salem was felt around the world. England, 
influenced by the experience in her colonies, hung 
her last witch in 1716; Scotland in 1722; Germany 
in 1793; Switzerland in 1780, and Spain in 1781. 
Thus did the world awaken from a delusion which 
had deluged it with innocent blood. Thus were 
witch fires extinguished forever in civilized lands. 

Then began the days of repentance. A jury that 
sat in several cases signed a most humble prayer. 
It was in part as follows: 


‘We hereby confess that we were not able to 
understand the mysterious delusions of the Powers 
of Darkness. We hereby express our deep sorrow 
for our error and most humbly beg the forgiveness 
of Almighty God for Christ’s sake. And we do 
declare that none of us would do such things again 
for the whole world.”’ 


The End of the Road 215 


It is hard to draw aside the curtain and reveal 
the horror of the witchcraft trials and not shudder 
at the awful cruelty of the times which enacted such 
a tragedy. But in the light of witchcraft persecu- 
tions in Europe, we can find much comfort in the 
thought that no witches were ever burned in Amer- 
ica, while this was the universal punishment every- 
where else in the world. Many cruel things were 
done at Salem, yet there was nothing done that 
compared with the tortures by the witch finder 
Matthew Hopkins and his crew of inhuman mon- 
sters, who went from town to town in Europe, ex- 
acting from hundreds of people large fees as a 
reward for his services in bringing their enemies to 
the stake. He stripped his victims, shaved them, 
thrust pins and needles into their bodies. He 
wrapped them in sheets with the big toes and 
thumbs tied together and threw them into the 
water. If an accused could not shed a tear at his 
command, she was a witch. 

The only consolation that history offers is that 
this diabolical wretch was himself accused, tor- 
tured, and burnt. 

The Puritans of New England fought the battle 
for a benighted world and won a lasting victory for 
conscience and the right. 


CHAPTER XXVII 
MINISTERS AND MAGISTRATES 


Longfellow said of the people of early New 
England: 


The only men of dignity and state, 
Were then the Minister and the Magistrate. 

T WOULD be hard to state which of these two 

functionaries was the most powerful at Salem 
in 1692. ‘The magistrates were appointed by the 
Governor and commissioned by the King. The 
ministers were chosen by their separate congrega- 
tions and represented more directly the voice of 
the people. 

Nine judges presided at the different witch trials 
in Salem. Two lived in Salem, four in Boston, and 
three dwelt in adjoining towns. They were far re- 
moved from the people of Salem, and felt they 
were responsible only to the Governor and the 
King. 

Chief Justice George Stoughton had studied for 
the ministry but two years before. Under the old 
charter he became a candidate for judge and failed 
to receive a single vote. This grew out of the fact 
that in 1688 he had been appointed a special judge 
and sat with the notorious Dudley in the witch trial 
of Mrs. Glover at Boston and with Dudley signed 

216 


Ministers and Magistrates AY) 


the death warrant for this crazy old washer- 
woman. 

He was the last one of the judges to repent. 
When the Governor in 1693 pardoned all of the 
convicted witches, Stoughton, who was holding 
court in Boston, suddenly left the bench, exclaim- 
ing: ‘‘ Who is it who obstructs the course of jus- 
tice? I know not! We were in a way to have 
cleared the land of these. The Lord be merciful 
to the country!” 

To ease his conscience, he is said in his old age 
to have contributed toward the building known as 
Stoughton Hall to Harvard College. 

He often hurled a switch about the court room 
during the witch trials to drive the evil spirits away. 
Calef says at one time he broke the switch by 
striking too hard. 

He was a man of ability, but a bigot of the 
worst type. There is a tradition that his grand- 
father was hung as a wizard. 

Samuel Sewall was a man of a different type. 
He was a graduate of Harvard. Honest, but weak 
and vacillating, he was greatly moved at the horror 
of the executions, but was afraid to protest. He 
presided in the trials day after day with a tortured 
soul, and when it was all over he hurried home, 
bolted the door, drew the curtains, and gave him- 
self up to sorrow and repentance for his awful 
crime. When the first general fast day came, he 


218 The Salem Witch Trials 


arose in the pulpit of the old North Church of 
Boston in the presence of a large assembly and read 
a most humble confession. Every year after that 
he publicly observed a day of fasting and prayer in 
humble contrition for the wrong he had done. 

He remained a judge for many years after that 
and was admired by all for his high character and 
honest purpose. He was married three times and 
had fifteen children, only five of whom lived to 
maturity. 

Whittier, in his prophecy of Samuel Sewall, 
says: 


He wears the look of a man unbought 

With a haunting sorrow that never slept 

As the circling year brought ’round the time 
Of an error that left the sting of crime 
When he sat on the bench of the Witchcraft Courts, 
With the laws of Moses and Hale’s Reports, 
And spoke in the name of both the word 
That gave the witch’s neck to the cord 

And piled the oaken planks, that pressed 
The feeble life from the warlock’s breast! 
All the day long, from dawn to dawn 

His door was bolted, his curtain drawn; 

No foot on his silent threshold trod, 

No eye looked on him, save that of God. 


Major Bartholomew Gedney was known as a 
brave and pious man. He participated in the In- 
dian Wars and was a doctor by profession. He 
was a member of the First Church of Salem, and 
was acquainted with all of the accused tried before 


Ministers and Magistrates 219 


him. He rana store in the village and had a license 
to sell rum. He permitted his servant, a rogue by 
the name of Louder, to testify before him against 
several of the accused. He caused the arrest of 
John Alden, of Boston, son of the Mayflower John 
Alden, and charged him with being a wizard be- 
cause Alden had sold some ammunition to the In- 
dians. He conducted a preliminary examination of 
Alden in the public square and bitterly assailed 
him, later ordering him to prison in chains where he 
remained for five months, then escaped to New 
York. He was later captured and kept in jail until 
the final pardon. 

Gedney was utterly unfit for the task assigned 
to him. Nothing in his record shows him to have 
been other than a vain, shallow sycophant. 

Major Nathaniel Galtenstall was a soldier of 
fortune. His father had been knighted by the 
King and the son had left a castle by the sea, to 
find his fortune in the New World. He was a 
Tory, not in sympathy with Puritan ideals, and only 
redeemed himself by resigning, after the first witch 
had been hung. 

Judge John Hathorne was the great grand- 
father of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He sat in most 
of the preliminary trials. His questions show that 
he was a firm believer in witchcraft. He presumed 
all the accused guilty before their trials began. He 
constantly refused to allow any one to testify in 
behalf of the prisoner. His treatment of some of 


220 The Salem Witch Trials 


the prisoners is the most shameful exhibition in 
our American History. 

The other judges, Corwin, Richards, Winthrop, 
and Sargeant were weak men. Corwin had been 
a retail liquor dealer since 1656. He lived in 
Salem and was a member of the First Church. He 
was a weak tool of Judge Hathorne, and never 
exercised a will of his own. The name is now 
Curwin. 

Judge Richards was a butcher and was appointed 
because of his friendship for Increase Mather. 
As late as 1701 Judge Richards caused an old 
woman to be arrested charged with being a witch. 

Winthrop and Sargeant came of good families, 
but knew nothing about legal procedure. 

Governor William Phipps, who appointed the 
judges, was a firm believer in witchcraft, and is 
said to have often directed the course of the trials. 
He was the master of a ship and had been knighted 
by King James. One day he consulted a fortune 
teller and was told where to look for a Spanish 
wreck that contained much treasure. When he 
found the treasure, he paid the fortune teller 200 
pounds. After he had pardoned all the convicted 
in 1693, he hastily went to England and permitted 
their release from prison only upon the payment 
to his secretary of thirty shillings each. When his 
wife was accused of being a witch, the prosecutions 
soon stopped. 

Such is the sordid story of the magistrates. 


Ministers and Magistrates 2a 


While they did not start the witchcraft craze, they 
did nothing to stop it, but violated every known 
principle of the law to bring about twenty deaths 
of innocent people. 

The story of the ministers is not much more to 
their credit. Reverend Samuel Parris is the center 
of the group. He began his ministry at Salem by 
driving a sharp bargain with some of the deacons. 
This was the beginning of trouble. He deliberately 
continued the quarrel by preventing the confirma- 
tion of Deacon Ingersoll and certain others. 

When the real trouble began, he sent his nine 
year old daughter from home, then encouraged 
the other girls in their wild hysteria. He volun- 
teered to take down the testimony at the trials, then 
testified against the accused. He appeared as a 
witness in eight different trials, and in every one 
he vigorously denounced the accused and in no 
instance offered consolation and help. 

He excommunicated Rebecca Nurse and Martha 
Corey after their convictions. His church records 
of 1692 recite: 

‘Sister Martha Corey was taken into church 
April 27, 1690, was examined on March 27, 1692, 
and condemned to gallows yesterday for witch- 
craft. This day in public by general consent, she 
is excommunicated out of the church.” 

He had been a student at Harvard. His true 
character was finally revealed and he was driven 
in disgrace from Salem. 


2o7 The Salem Witch Trials 


Reverend Nicholas Noyes was next in the order 
of infamy. He testified in several trials, always 
against the accused. When poor old John Proctor, 
standing on the gallows, cried aloud for some one 
to pray for his lost soul he turned to Noyes, but 
this hard-hearted wretch turned away with scorn 
upon his lips. 

When Bridget Bishop was about to swing into 
eternity, Noyes tormented her soul with cries of 
‘Witch! Witch!” The only reply was: 

ae OUATe aciance 

When Martha Corey was on trial, Noyes testi- 
fied that she had always practiced witchcraft on his 
congregation. 

When the last eight witches were hung, Noyes, 
standing at the foot of the gallows exclaimed: 
‘There swings eight fire-brands of Hell.” 

Then there was Deodat Lawson, who succeeded 
George Burroughs as the preacher of the First 
Church. He was a powerful man, possessed of 
great learning and very eccentric. After he had 
preached a few weeks, he discovered that he was 
in the midst of a hornet’s nest, and departed sud- 
denly for England. Every preacher for a long 
time had experienced trouble with this congrega- 
tion. Factional quarrels were of such long standing 
that they had become feuds. 

Lawson remained in Europe until April, 1692, 
when he returned to Salem. He was invited to 
preach in his old pulpit. The first witch had just 


Ministers and Magistrates 1. 


been tried and Lawson took occasion to inflame the 
public mind by denouncing from the pulpit those 
who were accused. He declared that the devil was 
abroad in the land, and must be subdued. His ser- 
mon had a wonderful effect on the community and 
was printed and distributed in London. 

Reverend John Hale of Beverly testified against 
Bridget Bishop. When Bridget asked him to be 
permitted to partake of the communion in his 
church, he refused. He said he thought she was 
possessed by a devil. 

Reverend Joseph Green wrote the confession of 
Ann Putnam and several other girls. Ann was 
only twelve years old, and yet her confession writ- 
ten by Green told of marvelous flights through the 
air on a pole and of slipping through key holes and 
cracks in the doors and windows. 

History has laid most of the blame for the Salem 
tragedy at the door of Cotton Mather. Bancroft, 
Peabody Upton, and Quackenbos have painted this 
minister of the gospel as black as Caesar Borgia. 
They obtained their information largely from 
Robert Calef, an enemy of Mather’s. } 

It would not be true to say that Cotton Mather 
was in no wise to blame for the witchcraft persecu- 
tions, nor would it be fair to say that he took a 
leading part in them. His name does not appear in 
any of the original records of these trials either as 
a prosecutor or as a witness. There is nothing to 
show that he ever attended any of the trials at 


224 The Salem Witch Trials 


Salem, except his own statement that he was pres- 
ent at one only. 

In 1692 he was the leading minister in the New 
World. He preached from the largest pulpit in 
Boston and was undoubtedly the most influential 
man in America. He entered Harvard College at 
eleven and graduated at fifteen. When the trouble 
arose at Salem he was but twenty-nine years old, 
had written 382 books, and possessed the largest 
library in this country. 

His father, Increase Mather, was President of 
Harvard College and was influential in all the af- 
fairs of Church and State. The younger Mather 
was a firm believer in witchcraft and often. 
preached on the subject in the old North Church. 
In doing so, he but followed the teachings of the 
great Martin Luther and Richard Baxter, and was 
followed by Charles Wesley, who said in 1768: 
‘The giving up of witchcraft is in effect the giving 
up of the Bible.” Mather believed that the In- 
dians found in the New World were the remnants 
of the ten lost tribes of Israel and were possessed 
of the devil. He was sure that the frequent at- 
tempts of the Indians to destroy the white settlers 
was only the devil seeking to overthrow the New 
Church whose foundations were laid at Salem. He 
preached that Christ would come the second time, 
and set up his church at Salem, and then would be 
waged that last great battle which would decide the 
fate of the world. If he lived today some people 


Ministers and Magistrates 225 


would call his malady “ dementia precox.” He 
Was erratic and unstable. He saw visions and 
dreamed dreams which were strange even in his 
day. 

In his “ Biblia Americana”’ he says: 


‘The country west of the Alleghenies is filled 
with wild turkeys that weigh sixty pounds each and 
wild pigeons that fly to the moon. Rattlesnakes 
are so powerful and venomous that they can bite 
an ax handle and break it. Wail stones are five 
times larger than hen’s eggs and often lay upon 
the ground three or four feet deep. Women are so 
healthy and live so long they often see over one 
hundred of their children and grandchildren.” 


Most of his writings are without merit because 
of his exaggerations. He kept sixty fasts a year, 
and spent much of his time praying and fasting. 
He had three wives and fifteen children. Only two 
of his children survived him, one of them feeble- 
minded. His third wife died insane. 

It is not strange that such a man entered with 
all the fervor of his being into every question which 
then troubled the public mind. He was bigoted, 
vain, and conceited. His ambition to become 
President of Harvard College, succeeding his 
father, made him over zealous. He was the scribe 
for all the churches in New England and presided 
at their conferences. 

After the execution of Bridget Bishop the court 
adjourned and asked the ministers at Boston for 


226 The Salem Witch Trials 


further advice. Cotton Mather reported to the 
court that the ministers had no doubt of the exist- 
ence of witchcraft, but said he: ‘Be very careful 
about receiving spectral evidence.”’ 

When the gallows had finished its work, great 
indignation was expressed toward all who had 
participated in the trials. Mather was bitterly 
assailed. He often expressed sorrow for what 
had been done and consecrated his remaining years 
to works of charity and helpfulness. During this 
time, an epidemic of smallpox broke out and hun- 
dreds died. As a member of the Royal Society of 
London, Mather had learned of the use of vaccina- 
tion as a preventive of the dread disease. He 
urged its use. Doctor Adams, grandfather of 
President John Adams, alone would undertake the 
dangerous job of inoculation. It is said Mather 
traveled from door to door with the doctor, aiding 
the sick and dying. 

Representing, as he did, the highest intelligence 
in America, his responsibility was great, but meas- 
ured by his time his conduct was not unusual. He 
was sincere. His delusion was the common mad- 
ness of the time. He was not an active participant 
in the trials, except as his sermons encouraged those 
who, for the time being, had in their hands the 
administration of the law. Some of the judges 
were members of his church. They were weak and 
pliable and no doubt were much influenced by his 
sermons. 


Ministers and Magistrates 227 


He thoroughly disliked Reverend George Bur- 
roughs, and is said to have been present in the 
crowd about the gallows when Burroughs was 
hung. He says in his book: ‘I regret that I ever 
knew him.” 

It is said that after the execution, a banquet was 
given by Judge Hathorne in Salem, in honor of 
the occasion, and Cotton Mather was the chief 
guest and speaker. 

Increase Mather, the father of Cotton, was then 
President of Harvard College. He had two years 
before been sent to England to negotiate a new 
charter for the colony. His work was not very 
successful. The new charter deprived the colony 
of many liberties it had previously enjoyed. The 
King granted to Mather the right to name the first 
Governor and the judges under the new charter. 
Governor Phipps, while nominally appointed by the 
King, was the real choice of Mather. 

While the witchcraft trials were in progress, 
Mather remained in Europe. He believed in 
witches and made no effort to stop the prosecutions. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
FIXING THE BLAME 
W HENEVER a great tragedy is enacted, 


someone tries to fix the blame. Events are 
measured best when time has shed its light upon 
them. So it is with the witchcraft trials. 

Cotton Mather blamed only the devil for what 
had happened. He was sure the witches were 
guilty and deserved to be hung because they had 
sold themselves to Satan, who was the enemy of 
all mankind. Robert Calef, who was present and 
witnessed some of the trials, was also sure the 
devil had a hand in it, but he thought the “‘ bigoted 
and fanatical ministers” of Boston and Salem were 
his chief agents. 

Bancroft blames Increase Mather, who, being 
authorized to appoint the civil officers, appointed 
Governor Phipps, an unfit man, and weak and 
spineless judges of the new court of ‘‘Oyer and 
Terminer.”’ He also censures Cotton Mather, his 
son, whom he describes as ‘a vain, shallow hypo- 
crite’’ bent only on promoting his own interest. 
Most of our school histories charge the whole 
thing to religious bigotry which took the form of 
persecutions for heresy. 

Looking back over two hundred and thirty years, 
we can see a little clearer than they saw. Just as 
the multitude cried: ‘‘ Crucify him! Crucify him!” 

228 


Fixing the Blame 229 


two thousand years ago, so the multitude in 1692 
cried out for the blood of Rebecca Nurse. After 
she had been tried and acquitted, the crowd mur- 
mured, and she was tried a second time. When 
she was convicted and pardoned the crowd cried 
louder than ever, and the Governor withdrew his 
pardon and sent her to the gallows. 

There is no evidence that soldiers were used or 
were necessary to enforce the judgments of this 
illegal court. ‘The executions took place in the 
open, in the presence of great multitudes of people. 
So far as it appears, no one protested. It would 
seem as though the decrees of the court were the 
unanimous verdicts of the people. Of course, this 
does not relieve the Governor, the judges, and the 
ministers of their responsibility as leaders of the 
community, but it does tend to show that they were 
following public sentiment. 

There is no doubt that the trouble arose pri- 
marily through an excess of religious zeal. ‘The 
Puritans had broken away from all old restraints 
and were seeking God in new and untried ways. 
The times were dark and the outlook gloomy. Evil 
was everywhere. Crimes and disorders were fre- 
quent. Jealousy and hate were common. Back- 
biters and scandal mongers dwelt on every street. 
If Salem was to become the New Jerusalem, the 
habitation of God in the New World, something 
must be done to drive out the devil. Who could 
doubt his presence? He was evil itself! What 


230 The Salem Witch Trials 


was wrong with Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, 
Sarah Bibber, and Sarah Osborn? Did they be- 
long to the Devil? They certainly were devilish. 

Bridget ran a drinking tavern and “kept late 
hours.”’ 

The other three women were backbiting scandal 
mongers, despised by everybody. These were the 
first accused. After their first success the girls 
became infatuated. ‘They enjoyed the notoriety. 
They were hypnotized. It is possible they were 
self-hypnotized. Itis more probable the hypnotists 
were found among those who wanted to get even 
with somebody. 

No one can believe, after an impartial reading 
of the testimony, that the conduct of these girls, 
day after day, was the result of a deliberate plot 
against anyone. They were nearly always hys- 
terical and frequently became rigid and uncon- 
scious. What it was that induced this condition, 
no one can certainly tell. They believed it was the 
power of an “‘evil eye”’ which struck them down. 
There was nothing new in this belief. St. Paul, 
in writing to the Galatians, said: ‘‘Oh, foolish 
Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Before whose 
eyes hath Jesus been crucified?” 

Pliny wrote of certain people who killed their 
enemies by looking at them. Tully tells of women 
who have two apples in one eye with which they 
can do all kinds of mischief. Plutarch writes of 
those who have poison in their eyes with which 


Fixing the Blame 231 


to fascinate their friends and punish their ene- 
mies. 

Peter Cartwright, in telling his camp meeting 
experiences, says he often saw one hundred people 
“knocked down” by a single sermon. The hyp- 
notic eye and voice of the preacher did the busi- 
ness. 

One may be hypnotized by himself, by another, 
or by a group. There is no doubt but that each 
one of the “Circle Girls” exercised a hypnotic 
influence over the other. When one fell in a fit, 
the others followed suit. 

The writer, when a boy, witnessed scores of 
people, at an old-time revival camp meeting, shout- 
ing, kicking, rolling on the ground under the 
mourners’ benches, and against trees, in a wild de- 
lirium. They were under the influence of a hyp- 
notic spell and were utterly irrational and irre- 
sponsible. 

The “ Holy Rollers” are religious maniacs who 
throw themselves into fits at will. They often lose 
consciousness in their excess of zeal to save their 
souls from a hell of their own imagination. 

The Flagellantes in Europe rejoiced in their own 
torture until the law forbade their practices. 
Hysteria is always contagious. It is like the mob 
spirit, dangerous because it is unreasoning and 
fanatical. One who is possessed with it is always 
sure he is right and will ignore all the ordinary 
rules of common sense to secure his object. 


232 The Salem Witch Trials 


These ‘‘ Circle Girls”” were not wise enough to 
plot. Their emotions were first played upon by 
someone else than by themselves. ‘Their impor- 
tance was magnified by the unusual attention shown 
them by the judges and ministers. As soon as the 
group was separated and some of the girls impris- 
oned the accusations ceased. 

It is interesting to follow the subsequent history 
of these girls. As far as can be traced, most of 
them married and settled down to humdrum life. 
Ann Putnam, Junior, five years later was read- 
mitted to the church from which she had been 
excommunicated. She was an epileptic. Sarah 
Bibber was undoubtedly insane at the time she met 
with the girls. Bridget Bishop was a raving 
maniac on the day she was hung. She became 
insane after her conviction. Mrs. Good and Mrs. 
Wardwell were both feeble-minded. Deliverance 
Hobbs was what the psychiatrists would call a 
border line case. Her mother, Abigail Hobbs, 
committed suicide while insane. 

No better opportunity could have been offered to 
the man who wanted to get even with his neighbor 
than to have his neighbor accused of being a witch 
ora wizard. It was only necessary to whisper this 
in the ear of one of these girls. What an oppor- 
tunity for the Putnams! Thomas Putnam was 
Clerk of the Court. Ann Putnam, Senior, and Ann 
Putnam, Junior, were his wife and daughter. Ann, 
Junior, twelve years old, testified in all but one 


Fixing the Blame 233 


of the cases. Ann, Senior, testified in several of 
them. Thomas signed the complaints and testified 
in nearly one-half of them. John Putnam, a 
brother of Thomas, a deputy sheriff, was a com- 
plainant and witness in many cases. Two other 
brothers, Edward and Johnathan, were always 
active in the prosecutions. 

They seem to have had trouble with nearly 
every one in town. So far as the record discloses, 
this family was as wicked as Matthew Hopkins, 
the witchfinder, and their motive was much the 
same. They were the political leaders of Salem 
and owed their leadership to Increase Mather and 
the infamous Governor Andros and his hireling 
Joseph Dudly. The family name of Putnam was 
restored to honor in our American Revolution by 
the heroic work of old Israel Putnam, a lineal 
descendant. 

The same is true of the Hathornes. A more 
despicable creature never sat on a bench in 
America than Judge Hathorne. History has in a 
measure erased the stigma and written across it 
the never-to-be-forgotten name of his great-great- 
grandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

There were many others who participated in the 
witchcraft prosecutions whose motives are hard to 
define. The whole community was under a spell. 

To witness nineteen persons hung and one cruelly 
tortured to death, all in three months, in a little 
town of only 1,700 people would upset the reason 


234 The Salem Witch Trials 


of almost any normal man or woman. Reason 
was not dead. It was only paralyzed. When it 
recovered, it had solved a world problem with such 
swiftness and thoroughness that no similar tragedy 
has ever since been enacted. 


CHAPTER XXIX 
DAMAGES AWARDED 


N OCTOBER 17, 1711, the province of 
Massachusetts appropriated five hundred and 
seventy-eight pounds and twelve shillings to be paid 
to the heirs of those who had been executed in 
1692 at Salem, and at the same time removed the 
attainder from all such heirs, thus restoring to them 
the full rights of citizenship that had been taken 
from them by the conviction and death of their 
parents. 

Considerable trouble arose in the distribution 
of this fund. Many of the heirs claimed larger 
damages than were allowed. The amount was 
divided upon the basis of the financial losses sus- 
tained, and was as follows: 


Heirs of Elizabeth Howe ....... 12 pounds 
‘“* George Jacobs ......... 79 
ee MeARUV LAT eT aSt Vins kext ahs pikes 20 tase 
San fe A Dateien hr. se as ee 
“ —“ George Burroughs ...... OU en 
“  ~— Giles Corey & Wife..... Ales 
Memeo ke checcas NUTS. wale ices ae We ne 
ee eon VV Welards, eote ste ZO Reet 
em Tohn ie roctor-ec; Wite. ¢ al o0 tees 
ome eSarah> Wildes. oo let re He 14a 
en oe CroOG Ht, aR oti ers SUG 
aun Vi artha.Cartiervaiete: stat 7 “ 


«  & Samuel Wardwell & Wife. 36 “ 
235 


236 The Salem Witch Trials 


The heirs of those who were convicted, and died 
in prison were also allowed damages. They were: 


Heirs of Abigail Hobbs ......... 10 pounds 
Sin oan: EAE OE OStERS ak eo a eee Orson 
Trevi Rebecca: bealnts aikict «a e.ckts ee es 
tit da AA Dipak aiknerss Gia AU ae 
Neo ae VA DORCAS SETOAE vehta’4 s oita stale pA = 
ieee CMV RTO SP AISC ce ptaeal eat Sot Gh ka th 
OOF Mary i Latey tie. pees S iat: 
hae, CEA: Dead Durty; a tabie S ZO ote 


Some who were convicted and hung, and others 
who died in prison after conviction, were not al- 
lowed anything. It must be presumed they had no 
legal heirs at that time. Among these were: 
Sarah Osborn, Margaret Scott, Alice Parker. 

A great many persons petitioned the govern- 
ment for allowances on account of the imprison- 
ment of their relatives. The total amount asked 
was over 1,000 pounds. It is interesting to note 
that these petitions are nearly all signed by marks 
only. 

Some of the petitions are very interesting. Ben- 
jamin Proctor, the son of John Proctor who was 
executed, says: 


‘“Forasmuch as I was the eldest son of my father 
and worked hard with my father ’till I was about 
thirty years old, and helped bring up all my 
father’s children, by all his wives, one after an- 
other, your petitioner thinketh he deserves a 
greater share than the rest of the family.” 


Damages Awarded 237 


Three of the heirs of Reverend George Bur- 
roughs petitioned as follows: 


“We, the children of Mr. George Burroughs, 
late of Wells, who suffered at Salem, offer a few 
lines relating to our case on account of our mother- 
in-law’s conduct and carriage towards us. After 
our father was taken away, our mother-in-law laid 
hands upon all she could secure (the children were 
generally unable to shift for themselves) and what 
she could lay hands on was her own without any 
ran but her own daughter to share with her. 

ay it please your honors, there were seven chil- 
dren more besides to bring up, the eldest of which 
was but fifteen at that time, and we had to shift 
for ourselfs without anything so much as a remem- 
brance of our father, though some of us can re- 
-_ member considerable in the house besides his li- 
~ brary which she sold and received the money for, 
then let it out at interest, and was afterward re- 
ceived by another husband and not one farthing 
bestowed on any child but her own. She has al- 
ready received too much and the children too little. 
We were turned out into the wide world to shift 
for ourselves, without a sixpence to remember our 
father with when dead and gone.” 


Major Samuel Sewall had much to do with dis- 
tributing this fund. He was one of the judges who 
presided at all the trials but seems to have come 
through it all with the respect and confidence of 
even the relatives of the condemned. 


CHAPTER XXX 


EXPENSE ACCOUNTS 


hci were many interesting expense ac- 
counts filed with the Clerk of the Court in 
1692. Among them was one of Deacon Ingersoll, 
in whose home many of the court sessions were 
held. It began with the arrest of Sarah Good on 


March 1, 


Mar. 


1692. A few items are as follows: 


Ist To Magistrates’ dinner 
ANN OTN ae ae 8 shillings 
“ To 43 Cakes, 6 Ots. Sider 2° “ 
“To 2 Constables, 2 Qts. 


MIGEines oe tats ut ate 9 pence 
SOE O RUM RE coe ete ee ke 6. Aer 
“To Marshall and _ his 

horse, 1 pot Sider..... Gino’ 


“ To Magistrates horse 

drink and_ entertain- 

ment on examination . 

of Goodwife Corey... 6 shillings 
“ ‘To Magistrates’ horses 

drink and_ entertain- 

ment upon examination 

of Goodwife Nurse... 4 “ 
“To Constable Herrick 

drink & board ...... 6 pence 


. 22 To Magistrates, ministers 


and attendance dinners.16 shillings 
“For 8 horses hey and 


ot 
“For marshalls & assist- 
ance & drink........ + s 
238 


Expense Accounts 239 


Apr. 22 Ditto for drink for the 

guard upon the commit- 

ted? persons: go2 20. ©. 3 shillings 
For drink and victuals 

next morning for guard 

of woman committed 

to Boston Gaol...... Bialik 
For conveyance of Bur- 

roughs and other pris- 


oner and victuals..... OEE he, 

May 18, 
19 For drink of guard in 

watching Willard, Car- 

rier and others....... 16 shillings 
May 20 To sider for magistrates 

and attendance....... 5 se 
May 20 To drink for magistrates 

ane victuals. soi ve 5 i 


May 24 To attendance supper and 
drink next morning... 5 

May 24 Upon examination of 
Proctor and_ several 
others victuals and 
drink for magistrates. .10 


66 


Thomas Manning filed an account as follows: 


To mending and ponting one fetters 1 shilling 
To John Howard 1 pare fetters.... 5 
To John Jackson, Senior, 1 pare 
TOLECT OMe ee ey ts route etnies 5 
To John Jackson, Junior, 1 pare 
TEULCIS ICES. ene tints os. te eres tence 


Isaac Little has an account: 


To 18 pounds iron for fetters for the 
prisoners @ 4 d a pound...... 6 shillings 

To expense and time to git 3 pares 
of fetters made for the two Jack- 
sons and John Howard........ Z 


240 The Salem Witch Trials 


John Harris charges the County of Essex: 


For providing a jury to make search 
upon Corey and his wife, Esty, 
How, Clois, and Mistress Brad- 
bury ois tous: eww aaleie ssbb sae eke 4 shillings 

For horse and man to guard me with 
the wife of John Wildes and the 
Widow Pudeator from Ipswich to 
Salem myself and guard ........ 9 


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